


Angel or Sinner, Hero or Trickster?

by FamedPrisoner



Category: Persona 3, Persona 5, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia, 真女神転生IV FINAL | Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse
Genre: Akira has an actual reason, Gen, Good Parent Midoriya Inko, Mementos (Persona 5), Midoriya Izuku Has One for All Quirk, Midoriya Izuku Has a Quirk, Midoriya Izuku is a Good Friend, Not Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Out of Character, Persona 5 Spoilers, Random Updates, SMT 4A Anarchy ending, Smart Midoriya Izuku, Social Links, The Velvet Room (Persona Series), Thief Akira Kurusu, Villain Midoriya Hisashi, also P5R, most will be out of character because I'm not familiar with the characters that much, no schedule
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:46:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24430804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FamedPrisoner/pseuds/FamedPrisoner
Summary: When Akira Kurusu, better known as Joker, defeated Takuto Maruki on February 2nd, he expected for reality to return to normal, not for him to into the abyss when he attempted to save Maruki from the fall. Now he has to deal with this.. new world. At least he get's to have his criminal record wiped, but.. Where is Maruki?---------------When Midoriya Izuku was left on the roof after All Might crushed his dreams, he didn't expect someone to fall directly in front of him out of a portal. But judging by how peculiar the man is dressing, he definitely isn't normal.---------------When Takuto Maruki fell, the last place he expected to land is in front of some extremely big high school. Now that he's here, though, perhaps his work on Cognitive Psience will be acknowledged! Now if only Akira were here...
Relationships: Akira Kurusu & Class 1-A, Akira Kurusu & Nedzu, Class 1-A & Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Izuku & Akira Kurusu, Midoriya Izuku & Yagi Toshinori | All Might
Comments: 30
Kudos: 141





	1. Well, A Trickster fell!

**Author's Note:**

> Yep, I'm making another fic. This one will be updated whenever, since i'm still prioritising VA,HE.

Akira Kurusu wasn't a man of many words.

Scratch that, he was a man of barely any words to begin with. Even in text messages, he would usually only respond with a single sentence. He wasn't one to be taken off guard, he wasn't one to be surprised, the Metaverse already took the cake of "Weirdest thing he's ever seen", from a gentleman thief who's appearance was more demonic than gentlemanly, to a female spy who had many firearms under it's skirt, It was safe to say nothing could surprise him. Hell, even Maruki's persona, Azathoth, with it's tentacle cables, couldn't surprise him, even if Futaba did suddenly get a nosebleed when he mentioned they wrapped around Sumire once.

...But this definitely wasn't what he expected when he fell with Maruki into the abyss created from his palace. Far, far from it. So that's why he is currently sitting in front of a green haired boy with the most anime eyes he had ever seen, on top of a roof. In his thief outfit. Externally, he exuded a sense of calm, stability and arguably annoyance. Internally, however..

'oh my god, OH MY GOD- WHERE THE HELL AM I, WHAT IS GOING ON, HOW AM I IN MY THIEF COSTUME, IS THIS THE METAVERSE? NO IT CAN'T BE, I FREAKING DESTROYED IT, SO THEN WHY IS MY THIEF COSTUME STILL HERE, WHY DO I STILL HAVE MY GRAPPLING HOOK, WHERE IS MARUKI-"

**'I would emplore you to calm down, Akira Kurusu. You're asking too many questions in your head too quickly. Not even I have the answers, anyways. Maybe focus on taking care of the obviously internally panicking boy in front of you, instead of asking so many questions that I would drink Liquor if I could get drunk?'**

'...I will deal with how you can speak at all later, Arsène. for now.. I agree, let's take care of the boy.'

"Hey there, kid. I do apologise for suddenly dropping in on you. My name is Akira Kurusu. I don't really know.. how, exactly, I managed to come here of all places, but that's something to discuss later. What's your name, kid?" I start off the conversation. Surprisingly, that managed to calm the kid down, and after a while, he finally responded.

"I-i'm Midoriya Izuku, student at Aldera Junior High!"

'alright then, that clears off a couple of things. This is either an alternate universe, or I somehow travelled into the future. Considering how close this is to that time with Aldo and his crew of a female boxer, frog samurai and robot paladin, I'd say Alternate universe.'

"... alright then, well, would you mind filling me in on what is going on in japan lately? I haven't been back in a while, and I haven't been keeping up with the news for... what, 8 years?" I lie straight through my teeth, a skill honed after having to constantly avoid Akechi pinning me down as leader of the Phantom Thieves. ( ~~I do miss those games of chess we would play)~~

Eventually, Midoriya Izuku would explain everything in going on in Japan to him, starting from this Number 1 hero, "All Might". Sounds like some cheesy anime hero, but I digress. He then went on this ramble about "Quirks", which I pieced together as probably meaning something along the lines of superpowers. After a while, he finally got to the things I needed to know the most. Dates. He mentioned that All mights introduction to the hero world happened around 2230, meaning that at the very least, it had to have been 220 years into the future. I also noticed he seemed to be a fanatic on all things hero related, so I asked something that could decide how I phrase my words from here on out.

"Hm... Alright. By the way- Have you heard of a group called the Phantom Thieves of Hearts? They existed a while back- maybe around 2016. I kinda stumbled upon a message on the internet about it, and you seem to be the type of person who's know about things like this." I would ask, he would ponder the question, as if mining through his head to find that small nugget of information in his brain, until finally appearing to get a lightbulb moment.

"Ah- yeah! They were this obscure group of vigilantes before the dawn of quirks, who would bring criminals to justice when the law couldn't! Why do you ask?"

Akira immediately froze. it wasn't the implication that they were in the future which shocked him, rather the word Midoriya used to describe them. Obscure? OBSCURE?! the Phantom Thieves singlehandedly saved Japan, they stopped Masayoshi Shido, they freed society from Yaldabaoths reign, they (hopefully) stopped Maruki from being able to take control of reality, and the word he uses to describe them.. is OBSCURE?! 

Either way, Akira begins to ponder his next few actions. He could come clean and reveal to Midoriya, someone he just met, his secrets in return for helping him out, but that would ruin the flare of being a Phantom Thief, and completely ruin any and all opportunities he might have for thievery if he was a goody-two shoes. So he decided to keep things a secret, at least for now. But, he would definitely walk him home. Midoriya deserved at least that much for helping him, plus, he could be a source of more information. Something he needed deeply right now.

"Well then, c'mon, let's get you home."

Midoriya would look up and eventually nod, stand up and follow me down the building. We would walk together, chatting, he telling me about the heroes in this Japanese society and other pretty minor details. However, a giant explosion suddenly appeared, and...

"What the- wait.. that's.. that's Kacchan!" Midoriya would stutter out, and then immediately begin rushing to that location. This.. wasn't what Akira expected. Akira expected some weakwilled Fanboy of heroes, not someone who's rush to make sure his friends are okay... Maybe...

By the time Akira actually managed to catch up, the scene he was was both confusing and utterly horrifying. A villain made of slime was suffocating a student, holding it hostage, more than anything. And Midoriya was about to rush in foolishly in an attempt to save that kid. The confusion was how Slime managed to get from Mementos to Reality, until then realising that it was a quirk, but the utterly horrifying bit was the fact that the slime was suffocating the student, while Midoriya was about to rush directly at it with basically no way to fight it. 

'I must applaud his bravery, but... this is just being stupid.'

**'The pot calls the kettle black then, trickster. Don't forget, you also rushed into numerous things with no way to fight back. The Metaverse is the only reason why you're still alive. That and your skills in thievery.'**

.,, I had to agree with Arsène, at that point I was just being hypocritical. Multiple times in my year long journey into the Metaverse, I had rushed in with no way to fight back or just severely underestimated the enemy. Eventually, I came to a conclusion. If Midoriya was going to attempt to save that kid, I would help out. Using my grappling hook, I flew up to the closest building to the Slime, while he was still distracted by Midoriya's.. Pathetic attempt at saving Bakugo.

"..You looked like you needed help!", I could hear from Midoriya. I would smile and chuckle. 

Midoriya was so much like Akira on the surface, it was almost hilarious. But now wasn't the time to comedy, it was time for him to dawn the mask and-

'Wait, can I even summon Arsène?'

' **Should there be need of it, yes. You won't need to remove the mask, simply will myself to come out, and I will arrive.'**

"Midoriya, I'll lend you some assistance. Arsène, EIHA!" I would jump off the building and yell, for theatrics, of course. The mask on my face would burn off, and soon, a demon looking figure appeared behind me, it's red suit fluttering in the wind with the wings that symbolise the freedom of a thief, the figure I know very well as Arsène appears behind me, casting the magic spell Eiha and hitting the slime villain directly, causing it to completely let go of the kid, allowing Midoriya to drag him away from the scene. And just when I was about to land a second hit, I suddenly felt.. something. Like an overwhelming urge to dodge out of the way. Third Eye had never been wrong, so I did just that, jumping right over and narrowly avoided.. A hulking blond man.

'I- wait, is.. Is that All Might? that person Midoriya mentioned was the Number 1 hero?'

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What do you think you were doing?! We had it all under control! And you! You should know that Quirk use in public is Illegal-"

"It takes roughly 45 seconds to drown someone. That kid- Bakugou, was it? Was well over that average. Had it been any more, we would've had a corpse in our possession and three heroes fired for incompetence." Akira would immediately spit out, cutting off the heroes and surprising Midoriya, who was taking it like a sitting duck.

"Wha-" "Do you have any idea how completely incompetent you had to be? Let me make this excruciatingly simple to understand, You. Fucked. Up. And. Child. Had. To. Do. Your. Job." I would finish, turning heel and dragging Midoriya away.

Akira was many things, That was to be expected of someone who made friends with people who represented the 21 Major Arcana, the world not counting due to it being the creation of said 21 Major Arcana. However, one thing he no longer was is a sitting duck. He learned firsthand how incompetent adults could be, and wouldn't let them walk over him for nothing. Dragging Midoriya with him, he would go in the direction that Midoriya stated was where his home was. Slowly walking across the roads, he started thinking about the events that had happened today. He was sent into the future, where superpowered people were abundant, and was able to summon Arsene, apparently the only persona he could summon, because his favorite, the High judge of hell, Satan, couldn't be summoned.. at all. That was a blow to him that he didn't know existed, but nonetheless, he still had Arsène, and if Eiha could do that much, then it was enough. 

"BOO YAH, I AM-..HERE?" The Number 1 hero would suddenly appear in front of Akira and Midoriya, one nearly got a heart attack from being sneaked up on, the other was just plain surprised. You can guess who is who.

"..U-um, Akira, would you.. mind going somewhere so me and All Might can talk in private?" 

Looking around, I found the very familiar blue hue of a velvet door and nodded. Walking torwards that jail cell door that only I can see, to yelled back.

"I'll be there, spacing out!". After yelling out that almost definitely very confusing phrase, I walked into the Door.. and awoke on the same bed as always. Standing up, I notice that the cell door is back, something I hadn't expected, and walked to the front of the cell, placing my hands on the cold steel bars.

"Ah, we meet again, Trickster. I believe it is.. Time for reintroductions, no? I am Igor, master of the Velvet room. And beside me.."

"I am your Velvet attendant, Lavenza. We meet again, trickster."

The two who reside in the Velvet room, Igor and Lavenza greet me, almost like nothing is out of the ordinary. But.. I know for certain that they know about my predicament, after all.. Igor is an observer to my journey as Trickster, and someone like him wouldn't miss how I suddenly travelled roughly 220 years into the future. Without a single word, we look at each other and I know we both think the same thing. Something is wrong, and this time, Igor knows the reason behind it.

"Hello, Igor, Lavenza. Mind telling me why i'm able to return to the room? Last I checked, my journey ended when I beated Maruki, no?"

"Ah, that would be true, however, your performance in your duty to save reality from distortion has brought upon the attention of my master, and as such.. you have been selected to be the trickster, once again, this time in a game against his counterbalance, the Crawling Horror." Igor explained, telling me everything I need to know in a short sentence. Nice, I like it.

"..So, I need to resume work as a phantom thief, and take the hearts of criminals once again?" I needed to make sure I knew all the necessary details. The minor ones I could discover myself. And Lavenza decides to be the one to answer my question.

"Unfortunately, trickster, you won't be able to change hearts anymore. After your successes in your original time, Master's master decided to bless Humanity with the power that the humans call quirks. Originally, they were only supposed to be small superpowers, but.. the false god had a backup plan. When Master's master blessed the world, Mementos slowly began to fuse with reality once again, giving people the powers they wanted and had in their collective unconsciousness, allowing them to possess extraordinarily powerful abilities. As such, mementos has become less of the collective unconscious it used to be, and has devolved into a shadow den."

"Instead, you will be joining the green haired boy on your adventures, this time to become a hero. Use Mementos as a training ground of sorts, collect new personas, create new bonds, and we will help you, and if possible, my master could allow you to regain the power to change hearts." Igor would finish off. 

Now Akira knew why he was here, to act as the champion of Igor's master. Well, If that was the case, as long as he could bring evildoers to justice, it would be fine. He had obtained everything he needed to know, and as such, would take that knowledge and use it to make his own decisions. He nodded back to them and walked out of the velvet room

Reawakening to reality, Akira noticed that All Might was gone, but midoriya was now standing in front of him, waving his hand in his face. Chuckling, he moved forward, surprising midoriya and causing him to jump back. It never got old, really. Surprising people after he returned from a long visit in the velvet room was one of his hobbies.

"A-ah, your back! That's good! U-um.. Would you like to come to my house for dinner?" Midoriya would finally ask, and Akira immediately knew his answer. He hadn't eaten at all today, so...

"Yes."

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**I am thou, And thou art I...**

**Thou has created a new bond**

**It shall become the Winds of Freedom**

**That will bring about a Great Realisation**

**With the birth of the Justice Arcana**

**I have obtained the winds of blessing that** ****

**Shall lead to freedom and new power**

(JUSTICE, RANK 1)

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, Nyarlathotep, are you sure of this?"

"Of course, we made a bet, no? Your champions, against mine. A bet to decide the fate of humanity."

"Joker, Leader of the Phantom Thieves, and Midoriya, Heir to One For All."

"And my champions of destruction.."

"All For One and Tomura Shigaraki."


	2. Fool and Tower, like Oil and Water.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short time skip later, documents, lots and lots of yen, akira Kurusu is now a part of the Midoriya Household.  
> ...He also really doesn't like Bakugou. (UPDATED: AMOUNT OF TEXT AND CONVO BETWEEN NYARLATHOTEP AND PHILEMON)

When Akira Kurusu arrived at the Midoriya household, he never expected it to be his new home. But... With how everything turned out all of a sudden, it was probably for the best, since she caught onto the fact that he was definitely not from the current time period not through his use on language or terms, which he would've expected, but rather through his name. And that was a surprise and a half for Akira, because what he heard from her was incredibly surprising, to say the least.

**Two weeks ago, Midoriya Household, 5PM**

On the walk from where All Might intercepted them to the Midoriya Household, Akira discovered a few things. First off, his thief costume burned away, like when he was no longer registered as a threat in the palaces, but the mask and red gloves stayed permanently on. Eventually, after a bunch of discussion with Midoriya, the local quirk expert in a nutshell, they decided that the Thief Costume probably only ever appears if Akira wants to engage in combat or is still on edge, which would explain why it was constantly on from when they first met up until the Sludge Incident. And then.. they arrived at the house.

When Midoriya invited Akira into his house, he immediately felt at home. It felt like Cafe Leblanc, homely. In a short period of time, he was also introduced to Inko Midoriya. Midoriya's mother. Midoriya-san eventually got Midoriya to head to his room and unpack everything, while inviting Akira to the couch for some tea. And that's how they got to this point, in which Akira was being the good house guest and thanking Midoriya-san, that things took a turn. Not for the worst, but definitely a turn.

"So, what's your name?" Midoriya-san would ask after taking a sip of her tea

".. Kurusu. Akira Kurusu, Midoriya-san."

Suddenly, Midoriya-san entered a state of silence, as if surprised about something. they would just be staring at each other, waiting for the other to say something. Midoriya-san would eventually put her tea down, and ask something.. Akira didn't expect her to ask.

"..Would I be correct in assuming you are the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts? That Akira Kurusu?"

Stunned silence, this time from Akira, ensued. 

'Wait- She knows of my group? More specifically, she knows of my name and role in the Phantom Thieves? That.. I need to ask her why she knows, time to make a ballsy move.'

"..Yes, you'd be correct. How did you know?"

Midoriya-san would chuckle and stand up. walking to a small bookshelf, she took out what appeared to be an extremely old photo album, and Akira immediately notices the timestamp on the cover. 2017 - 2020. 

"You'd be surprised how much the Niijima Family keeps, we're all hoarders to some extent. It just seems that Sae enjoyed taking photos of everything." she would reply with a small smile. 

"Wait, Niijima Family..? Would.. Would I be correct to assume that you were a Niijima at some point in time?" 

"Yes, I only changed my name after my wedding. It's why Izuku's Surname is Midoriya instead of Niijima. It's also the reason why I know about you. My Great-Grandmother did tell many stories about her husbands adventures, after all." Finishing that sentence, Midoriya-san opens up the photo album and flips directly to 2020, showing a picture of a date between Makoto-chan and Akira.

.....The implications behind what Midoriya-san just said hits Akira like a sack of potatoes, and he proceeds to go into silence trying to process everything that he was just told. The Midoriya's were Niijimas, which is the reason why Midoriya-san knew about his group of thieves, but it was the implication of "Great-Grandmother did tell many stories about her husband" that caught him by surprise. Eventually he calmed down and began to think rationally once again.

"I.. I see. So, this information is all... well and good, but what now? Unfortunately, if what you're saying is true, I should be very, VERY dead. The government isn't going to exactly hand me a second identity to use after I died of old age, are they." 

Midoriya-san would enter deep thought, after a couple minutes she would simply nod. "True, I'll see what I can do about that." She stood up and began walking to the kitchen, presumably to prepare food. "Oh, and Kurusu-kun, please, call me Inko."

"...In that case, please call me Akira, Midoriy-.. Inko."

After two weeks of work, Akira Kurusu was registered as Akira Midoriya, a new member to the Midoriya family. Izuku responded to what had happened by passing out. Over that course of two weeks, Inko also taught Akira everything he would need to know about the new Japanese society, ranging from what quirks were to what changes there actually were to the Japan he knew. Turns out, other than minor technological advances and the creation of heroes in order to combat villainy, nothing much really did change. And so, the Midoriya family gained a new member, who was also Inko's Great-Grandpa. Not that either of them would actually tell Izuku.

And so, the days passed on with Akira simply reading and getting used to living in the Midoriya household ( ~~It's so much more different than the attic of Leblanc..)~~ , Inko doing her job like any other person to support the family (Less so now that Midoriya brought along with him 10 Million yen) and Izuku going to school and training under All Might. It seemed like life would simply just continue on with no bumps on the road. Until he was forced to go to school. Surprisingly, he could actually attend the school Midoriya was going to, under the assumption from the staff that he didn't get a good enough education due to just being picked up from off the streets.

And so, Akira's first day at Aldera Jr High began. And he thought absolutely nothing could top the first month at Shujin Academy, due to how unpleasant it had been for him in that short month alone. He quickly realised that, yes, this first day DEFINITELY dethroned the first month and Shujin. And that was saying something.

When Akira arrived, the homeroom teacher asked for him to make an introduction to everyone else. Alright, no problem. He simply walked up to the black board, wrote his name, and turned around.

"My name is Akira Midoriya. I'd prefer if you just call me Akira to not confuse yourself with Izuku and I. My quirk is Persona, It originally allowed me to summon a multitude of things - **'Hey, I'm not a thing, I'm your inner self!'-** to help me, however.. Minor complications arose, so now I'm stuck with Arsène. Now that that's out of the way, please take care of me." After finishing his sentence, he would bow. However, it appeared that his classmates wanted to piss him off, so the moment he returned to his desk, he heard murmurs from his classmates.

"No way, Midoriya has a _brother?_ "

"Nah, can't you tell? he's obviously adopted!"

"Seriously? Did Deku's mom finally feel like he was way too worthless and got a new child?"

"Maybe the new kid is just as useless as Deku..."

They would continue for a couple seconds, with Midoriya freezing up in his seat, and.. what appeared to be a Pomeranian glaring holes at Akira for seemingly no reason. Eventually, all the muttering got on Akira's nerve, and he slammed his hand down on his desk, creating a noise so big it attracted the attention of the entire class.

"Let me make this overwhelmingly clear, It hasn't even been 5 minutes, and I already hate you all. Each and every single one of you. You insult me, that's fine, I've dealt with it numerous times before. You attack me or fight me, that's also fine. But attacking my brother and subsequently insulting his worth, all the while continuing to land low blow after low blow is simply too much." my mask burns off and Arsène emerges from behind me, standing menacingly. "If you want to fight, issue a challenge and I'll beat you. If not, shut up. This has been my PSA on basic human decency." The mask reappears and Arsène disappear and Akira sits back down at his desk, watching everyone elses either fearful eyes or prideful eyes.

'Good, that means it worked.'

Midoriya however, looks like he's just witnessed God come from the heavens (No, Not the false god), his eyes are quite literally sparkling with adoration. And looks like he is about to explode with words of praise right then, right there. The teacher eventually decides that now would be as good a time as ever to begin actually doing his job, and homeroom starts with no further action. Akira expected it to end, right there, but of course, the universe had other plans. Because the moment school ended, and Akira left the Izuku alone for ONE SECOND to grab water, the Pomeranian would make his way over to Izuku, and.. well, you can guess.

So when akira was returning to the classroom to get his bags, he expected Izuku to be ready with his bags to head home. So he waits beside the classroom door for Izuku. And he waits for a grand total of 15 seconds before an explosion and "DO YOU THINK YOU'RE SO HIGH AND MIGHTY WITH THAT BROTHER OF YOURS HERE NOW, DON'T YOU?!" before he bursts into the room and sees a scene which would cement the relationship between Bakugou and Akira. 

Inside the room, two lackeys are pinning Midoriya to the wall, while Midoriya was apparently struggling, Bakugou was ready to use his quirk, Explosion, which has him geenrate nitroglycerin-like sweat which he can detonate at will, on Midoriya as well. And as such, when Akira barged into the room, Bakugou's hand was incredibly close to Izuku. And then they stood there, waiting for any reaction from Akira. 

...And instead of freaking the fuck out, Akira does the sensible thing and takes a picture of the incident and saves it to his cloud.

"And saved. Let it be known that I have within my possession evidence of bullying. I'll say it again, if you want a fight, challenge me. But don't. Fucking. Attack. Izuku." The lackeys nod shakily and run out of the classroom as soon as they have the opportunity to run. Akira then turns his attention to Bakugou, and then looks at Midoriya.

"Midoriya, mind leaving Bakugou and I alone for a bit? We're.. going to have a private chat." Midoriya nods, grabs his bag and heads for the door. Leaving Akira and Bakugou alone in the room.

Silence fills the room, either party saying absolutely nothing. Akira stares an Bakugou with silent, judging eyes. He tries to match the boy Midoriya constantly praises and what Inko said about the kid as well. Despite what anyone might think, being observant ran in the family blood, Inko not excluded. She could tell that something didn't match up with the Bakugou Midoriya told her about and what she could observe, and as such told Akira about her suspicions as well. Part of the reason why he even attended this school in the first place was to make sure Bakugou didn't do anything to Midoriya. He thought it was paranoid, but he understands now. 

Bakugou, however, watches Akira in awe. He thought highly of people with powerful quirks, but none could ever hope to best his own, of course. However, his partial saviour did still give him the ability to flee, which he was thankful for. And now, he thought that this would be the beginning of his story, that he would praise Bakugou for pressing on during the sludge incident, and also understand that quirkless people were nothing but pebbles to be stepped on. Oh, just how wrong he was...

The first thing Akira did wasn't speak, wasn't sigh, wasn't any of that. Instead, he raised his red gloved hand and slapped Bakugou hard across the face. Bakugou's face was in pain, he had never been slapped that hard before. Even if the old hag did punch him in the face, it was usually pretty damn soft, to act as a deterrent from doing stupid shit. But this? This was a slap with nothing held back. It was one that rang throughout the entire classroom, further emphasised with the giant red handprint resting on his left cheek.

"...I'll start this off with something positive. You did good holding out for that long during the sludge incident. That is plain and simple. However..." Akira's voice would become a low growl. "You would willingly step on others, take advantage of them, simply to satiate your own pride and ego. People like you are who the Phantom Thieves would change the heart of."

Bakugou was confused, he had never heard of a group called the Phantom Thieves, but what Akira said, he considered a blow to his pride as a person, to him, it was his right to punish the weak for thinking they could rise above Bakugou himself. He was nothing wrong with that, after all, nobody had stopped him before other than Deku, even then, he was weak himself, so he probably just sympathised with the useless pieces of shits. Either way, nobody would care about what happens to them... right?

"Midoriya thinks quite highly of you. And while I may not be his brother by blood, he's like a son to me. So, here is how this will go down. You will stop your whole shtick, and stop bullying others you feel are weaker than you. Understood?" Akira asks. He isn't looking for any flowery words or pleas. He wants a straight answer. 

"Oh? What if I don't care what you think?! I'm the goddamn king of Aldera! I have the best quirk in the entire school!"

Akira looks down and shakes his head, turning around, he begins to walk out of the classroom. "Oh, you'll see." and with that cryptic response, he leaves the classroom, letting Bakugou think about what to do next.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**I am thou, And thou art I...**

**Thou has created a new bond**

**It shall become the Winds of Freedom**

**That will bring about a Great Realisation**

**With the birth of the Tower Arcana**

**I have obtained the winds of blessing that** ****

**Shall lead to freedom and new power**

(TOWER, RANK 1)

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Akira walks through the halls, the remaining students cower in fear of him. His announcement in the middle of class had spread to the entire school, and nobody was brave enough to fight the man who had a devilish gentleman at his every call. During his walk through the halls, he thought about what to do with Midoriya. He's known him for a while, and he knows that if Midoriya knew the truth, he probably wouldn't report him. Plus, it would allow Midoriya to get in some combat training on his few days when All might scheduled free days for Midoriya.. which today just so happened to be exactly that, a free day. And so, with a decision in tow, he decided to take Midoriya to his favourite place back in his time.

The Tokyo Subway. It's time for Midoriya to discover his bloodline of trickery and thievery, and for him to learn those skills so that he can be a better hero.

**Today, Tokyo Subway, 11PM**

It wasn't difficult to convince Midoriya to go with him during eleven in the evening, what was hard was convincing Inko that what he was about to do wasn't incredibly and utterly stupid. After a fair amount of consideration, debate and weighing of pros and cons, she decided that if Izuku was ever to be a hero, he would need to tricks that the experienced Phantom Thief could do. Which was why both of them were now in the Tokyo Subway, preparing for something that Izuku.. would never see coming.

"So.. Akira-kun, why are we here, exactly?" Midoriya would finally ask after a while of silence, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Simple, really. It's time for you to learn the truth.. and to learn of your heritage." Taking out his phone, he tapped the Metaverse Navigator, which was now back to its old Red and Black color scheme. Thats good. White and Black never suited it anyways. "Now then, 'Mementos.'"

The moment Akira uttered those words, reality began to shift and warp around them, causing Midoriya to get on edge. After they were transported to the world of cognition, Joker stood in front of him, and decided to do the silly thing of doing a Jojo pose while yelling "HERE WE ARE!". Never let it be said that Joker didn't have a sense of humor.

Midoriya, however, looked like he was completely and utterly drained of all life. Seeing reality warp and shift, seeing the once almost pristine Tokyo Subway turn into a mess of red and black, then finally Akira's sudden clothing transformation back to when they first met ended up causing Midoriya to mentally bluescreen. The same thing that happened after Akira and Futaba went into extreme detail on what they had done in the metaverse to Sae, who was very curious. By the end of the night, Sae looked like she needed permanent Aspirin. Midoriya looked much the same. Guess it runs in the family.

Once he finally calmed down the bluescreened Midoriya, he began to explain everything. Starting from the founding of the Phantom Thieves to their individual adventures.

The Heist of Suguru Kamoshida's Castle, where Ann and Skull took down the bastard of lust with bravado.

The Heist of Ichiryusai Madarame's museum, where Yusuke stylishly struck the painter of vanity.

The Heist of Junya Kaneshiro's bank, where Makoto sped through all of the gluttonous slobs forces.

The Heist of Futaba Sakura's tomb, where Futaba herself would shoot down the cognitive version of her mother, ending her wrath. 

The heist of Kunikazu Okumura's Factory, in which Haru and Morgana showed him that his greed would be the reason he would fall.

The Heist of Sae Niijima's Casino, where the entire team would end Sae's envy with one special All-out attack.

The Heist of Masayoshi Shido's ship, where Joker himself finally got to take down the prideful bastard, and get the revenge he longed for.

The Destruction of Mementos, everyones palace, where all the Phantom Thieves got to strike down the false god stringing them along.

And finally, the Heist of Takuto Maruki's Hospital, where Sumire and Akechi finally got to reach the reality they deserved, one in which she was herself, the other in which he wouldn't have to live as someones puppet.

By the end of his extravagant tale, Midoriya understood everything, he even understood the velvet room, something he didn't actually fully understand around about his 5th visit. And then he told him that technically speaking, he was his Great-Great grandfather. That ended up being the straw that broke the camels back.

"So.. wait, you're my Great-Great grandfather from the past?"

"That would be correct, assuming your Inko didn't get something wrong."

"..I.. I need a break.."

He then promptly fainted.

'Well, that sucks. I was going to show him some skills.'

' **In that case, let's wait for him to wake up.'**

'Yes, yes, I agree. Now then, Mementos.. Ready or not, we will be coming soon!'

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The two champions you've picked.. I assume it's to prove me wrong?"

"Of course. It's about time Gods like me are able to intervene. I was given permission for these two, and now I will prove that they are superior in every way."

"So, to counter my decision of two champions with the freedom of choice, you chose two in which you decided their fate, abolishing their ability to choose?"

"Your not so dumb after all, then, Philemon."

"... Very well, we both agreed to the terms of the bet, right?"

**"If the freedom to choose wins, we stay out of humanities business until our hand is forced, If the inability to choose wins, gods will have direct control over the mortal realm."**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Confidants:
> 
> Justice (Midoriya): 1/10  
> Tower (Bakugou): 1/10


	3. Takuto Maruki: Meeting Nedzu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile, during the time that Akira and Midoriya have been bonding, Maruki has been having tea with a rat that speaks japanese.  
> ...And also getting a job offering.

Takuto Maruki was a nice man.

He was known to be a nice man, the entirety of Shujin Academy and the phantom thieves themselves could testify to that.

Sure, he had a.. lapse in judgement after the Day of Reckoning, but that was to be expected when his persona suddenly went berserk. After all, what else can you really do when your own persona ends up forcing its will onto you? On the plus side, the Phantom Thieves managed to save him from his own insanity and stop his creation.. Seriously, in retrospect, that idea for a perfect reality was far-fetched, even if it was well meaning, it was still stupid in hindsight...

..That's not the point, the point is, he expected to be able to atone for what he had done by falling into the abyss, effectively dying. Akira's attempt at saving him definitely did snap him out of that, however, as he know understood he needed to face reality head on. But then they both dropped into the pit. And that's how Maruki found himself drinking tea with a rat while being stared at by a hobo in a corner. 

'alright Maruki, stay calm. This is far from the some of the weirdest things I've seen before, Hastur could arguably outrank this... Well, I can roll with this!'

Keeping that positive attitude, he thanked the rat for the drink and began to have a small discussion with him, and they slowly went off the rails and talked about a bunch of theoretical sciences. He also realised that in this world, Cognitive Psience wasn't known yet, so.. He also let slip a bit about his own personal research about Cognitive Psience. After a while, the rat would nod. Noticing that they had spoken for basically an entire hour, the rat looked at the hobo.

"Aizawa-san, would you mind leaving the room for a second? Clearly, this is a man of science who just had a bit of a navigation problem!" the rat would say, the hobo, now known as Aizawa, leaves the room while muttering under his breath "Dear god, Nedzu has a science friend.". Maruki is understandably confused, but regardless, he still continues on.

"Now that AIzawa-san is out of the room, I'm Nedzu, the one who could be a dog or a mouse or a bear, but more importantly... I'm the principal!" The principle of the school, Nedzu, would introduce himself. And Maruki did the same.

"I'm Takuto Maruki, Cognitive Psience researcher-" "Oh, I already know who you are, Councillor of Shujin!" Nedzu would interrupt the introduction, and Takuto would end up going silent. That wasn't what he expected when he introduced himself. This definitely isn't Japan- well, it isn't the Japan he knows, but-

"Of course this isn't the Japan you know, we're around 220 years into the future! Why else do you think I would exist?"

'..Okay, Nedzu can apparently read my thoughts. Either that, or he's just incredibly good at reading facial expressions-' "The latter." '.. Alright then.'

"..Mind filling me in on what I've missed in the past 220 years? I'd like to know what's going on in my area." he would ask.

And so, Nedzu would fill in Maruki on everything he had missed, ranging from the appearance of quirks and the existence of heroes, and animals who have quirks, such as Nedzu himself. Maruki himself also began to fill in the blanks using the things Nedzu had told him. And soon, came to a startling realisation. He was stuck in this time period for the foreseeable future, and most definitely did not have the apartment he rented in his years. During his chat with Nedzu, he also began experimenting with his own power, to see if he could feasibly use them. turned out, he could. He could summon Azathoths tentacles, but that was about it. They had their cable-like appearance, but they couldn't do anything they normally would be able to. A blow, but one he could work with.

As a trade of information, Maruki also revealed some of his own knowledge, mainly about Cognitive Psience and the proof to validate its existence. This trade of knowledge proved to be.. beneficial to both parties. Maruki obtained the knowledge needed to survive in this new world, and Nedzu simply obtained new knowledge that he could use. Of course, he would need Maruki's cooperation, but still, a step towards knowledge is always good! 

however, even if Maruki had the benefit of basic knowledge needed, he still had to have a place to live and a job. And so, a deal was struck between the councillor and the devil. Maruki would act as hound dogs assistant, providing mental aid and knowledge in areas that hound dog didn't have experience in, and he would also get to live in a Yuuei funded apartment. In return, Maruki would tell Nedzu about his knowledge in Cognitive Psience and the Phantom Thieves. 

And just like that, Maruki would walk away from Yuuei High, pleased with himself for managing to get so lucky. Nedzu would be extremely happy that he now had a founding researcher in Cognitive Psience as a connection, allowing him to get the good details of it all. As for the teachers.. they were fearing for their lives. Basically everyone was afraid of what Nedzu could pull off now that he had found a spirit that could give him knowledge he never knew of. 

"The world is fucked." Aizawa would plainly state. Everybody agreed with him. The world was definitely fucked. And they had no idea of what shit they could pull off either, so.. 

....Meanwhile, Philemon and Nyarlathotep watched the board set itself.

The Angel or hero, Midoriya Izuku. And the Trickster or Sinner, Akira Kurusu, on the side of Philemon.

The ones whos fate had been sealed by the gods, Tomura Shigaraki and All For One, on the side of Nyarlathotep.

And the man in the middle, acting as someone who had both the freedom to choose and the inability to choose thrust onto him at the same time, the neutral party, Takuto Maruki.

these five would lead to The Great Realisation.

....the board has been set, the game is afoot and most importantly... Philemon's champions now have to make a decision.

Angel or sinner, Hero or trickster?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter to act as a transition and as a view into what has happened to Maruki, now then, the game is afoot!


	4. weaknesses, strengths, getting thy ass kicked by Pyro Jack.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mementos goes slightly (Read: absolutely) wrong. And Joker has a chat with the velvet residence, especially since he just got his ass handed to him by one of the weakest personae.  
> Edit: Was accidentally deleted while deleting old drafts. Small changes have been made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Party:
> 
> Joker:  
> Weaknesses: Ice, Bless.  
> Resist: Curse

Joker thought he was prepared.

Joker _thought_ he was prepared.

He thought he was prepared after absolutely handing that slime villains ass to him a couple weeks ago, and he was pretty damn confident as well. So he walked into Mementos, expecting it to be the same, except.. well, nothing was the same.

First off, Mementos wasn't a subway anymore. it was more a winding prison. A prison filled with people, simply staring outside with blank and empty eyes until they suddenly dissolved into nothing but black ooze. The sudden change didn't catch him off guard- no, what DID catch him off guard was how much Mementos exploration changed without a Monavan. 

Basically, back when Mona was around, he would turn into a bus and Joker would ram the bus straight into the shadows. Except he can't do that, because he doesn't have a vehicle. So after getting around Mementos. ON FOOT (He never thought he would need to do it AGAIN, the whole Okumura Fiasco made him appreciate the Monavan a whole lot more..). So after getting past that, he eventually also realised one thing. 

The Mementos shadows had multiple masks. 

The only way the Phantom Thieves were able to ambush the shadows was due to Morgana just crashing into them and destroying everything, causing the same reaction as tearing off the mask.

EXCEPT NOW THEY COULDN'T DO THAT. 

So what ended up happening first was when Joker attempted to ambush a Shadow while taking Midoriya along, and then ripped one mask off. The shadow proceeded to make a 90 degree neck turn, stare directly at Joker for around 5 seconds before slamming him into the floor then dissolving into Pyro Jacks.

What was worse is that he wasn't faster than the Shadow, because he didn't have a team. He was also SURROUNDED.

'Alright, no problem. Eiha did a crap ton of damage a while back on that same slime villain, so it's probably been supercharged or something!'

**'...That would make sense, let's try it.'**

Joker summoned Arséne once again and commanded him to pull off an Eiha, the Jacks never moved, so the attack hit. He expected the attack to decimate the enemy, giving him a chance to escape and figure everything out, but then he realised that they didn't die. 

He proceeded to get his ass handed to him until he realised he had guns. 

He then silently cried as he realised he couldn't do an All-Out Attack.

After Midoriya experienced a slight panic attack at seeing his brother getting his ass handed to him by the monsters. Joker was soon embraced in a hug and checked for wounds by Midoriya, while Joker himself was also cheering in his mind that he obtained Pyro Jack in his armada of personae... Only to be confused when he was unable to summon him.

He immediately returned to the entrance to Mementos and told Midoriya to stay put. He needed to figure out what exactly had happened. So he reentered the Velvet room to hopefully get some answers through talking to the most knowledgable person about persona related topics.

"Welcome back to the Velvet room, trickster. What can I answer for you?" Igor would ask the moment Akira set foot in the room. Of course he would know about his troubles, he was an observer, after all.

"Igor, I have a question. Why did I do much less damage than when I attacked the Slime villain?"

Igor chuckles, pulling out a glass as Lavenza poured in red wine. "Why, that's simple. Persona attacks simply do much more damage to other humans."

...Akira immediately began smacking himself in the head. Of course, OF COURSE! Maruki's skills dealt way more damage than other shadows to them, and they dealed a little more to him as well, the fight with Akechi was also the same, with both parties dealing much more damage than they had usually. But, then... "Why did the Eiha hurt the slime villain so much, though? There were heroes on scene who definitely had arguably more powerful ablities."

Igor drinks the red wine, and when he finishes, crushes the drinking glass into tiny pieces. They float in the air and recreate the scene of Akira attacking the slime villain. "Simple, really. The Slime just had extreme resistances to Physical attacks, while having barely any defence for magic. So long as the attack didn't have a solid form, it would've hit its target regardless. Take it this way, Physical and Gun attacks focus on the body, While all other magic attacks focus attack the spirit. Spiritual damage is nearly the exact same as Physical damage, which is why it would hurt just as much, if not more. The magic you used, Eiha, didn't have a defined form, it was chaotic, pure energy, exactly like.."

"Almighty skills." I finished. Igor had a small grin on his face. Judging from that, I hit the nail on the head.

"You'd be correct, trickster. Simply put, you got lucky with your choice in attack. Your choice in attack will effect how a battle plays out in the real world now, since you can actually summon your persona. Keep this in mind; the powers known as quirks can throw in many different wrenches when you're deciding on an attack. Think of it as more of a "Don't throw ice at someone with the power to create explosions" type of thing.

"Now onto the topic of why you can't feel the call of Pyro Jack like you normally do." 'How in hell did he- Never mind, it's Igor, of course he knows' "Simply put, transferring you into this specific time frame ended up.. Messing with the power of the wild card." I tilted my head in confusion, messing with the power of the wild card..?

Lavenza stepped forward. "Simply put, due to the small fusion between Mementos and reality, plus the sudden separation from your confidants, the power of the Wild card has been changed drastically. It has changed how the Wild Card works, so to speak."

"The persona, Pyro Jack, can no longer be summoned. You will be just like other Persona-users, only able to summon one Persona. However.. Pyro Jack can still be used, as a bit of a battery, one could say. Pyro Jack will now act as a.. Let's call it a Sub-Persona. It will supply Arséne with the skills in its own arsenal as well as change Arséne's own resistances and weaknesses. Think of it using my previous metaphor, replacing the battery with the Sub-Persona and whatever device you are powering as Arséne. The resistances work.. Differently. If Arséne was previously weak to an element, then the Sub-Persona resisted it, that weakness would be overwritten with a resist instead. This applies to resist, null, reflect and absorb. Not only that, but if the Sub-Persona is weak to something you were neutral against, you will become weak to that element. IF you were to be hit by an element you were doubly weak to, however.. You can imagine the consequences. Now then, you will only be able to use one, and you must return to the velvet room every time you want to switch the Sub-Persona out, as such, you can no longer simply switch mid-battle."

"So in short, I can use a Sub-Persona to power up Arséne. I can only use one, and the only way to switch them out is in the velvet room, correct?" I received only a head not from Igor to confirm my understanding of the new situation. "Alright then, thank you very much for your answers, Igor. I'll be taking my leave and teaching my new pupil." I proceed to walk out of the velvet room.

...And immediately notice Midoriya's absence from the safe zone. Panicking almost immediately, he started looking around the safe zone for anything that could've given him a hint at where Midoriya could've been, and then noticed a card.

 **"Taken** **the** **angel, should you desire him back, come to the end of the 1st floor of the Prison. -Champion of Nyarlathotep"**

'...Well.. Shit.'

that one note struck the fear of god within him. Midoriya was kidnapped. That wasn't good. Even if he wasn't exactly Midoriya's real brother, he was still attached to him due to being his own blood, and feared for his own flesh and bloods life. The other reason? Someone once said.. Hell hath no fury like an angry mother. That was very accurate. Mothers (Or sisters) are protective of their kin. And he just lost him. As much as he was a fearless leader of the Phantom Thieves, who struck down gods and took down corrupt politicians, he still feared the power of an angry mother. And so took off to the end of Mementos with haste.

Soon, after obtaining new Personae and realising how stupid he was for putting Pyro Jack as the Sub-Persona (Pyro jack was weak to two different elements that he was neutral to, one of which being wind.. Why did he do that..?) He reached a large door, blocking the exit to the 1st floor of Mementos. Deciding he was powerful enough to fight what was inside, he opened the door, expecting a shadow of some kind and having to save his brother.

_Instead, fate decided to turn, and turn. Making waves in the universe, shaking events that were supposed to happen, changing them. Fate never knew what it had done, but for once, the bearer of cruelty wasn't so cruel. Instead, Fate had given the universe a gift. A gift that would shake the world by impacting one child. That action would change everyone around them. That child.._

In the room stood Midoriya, wearing a green cloak that was covering what was underneath. He wore white gloves on his hands and a green costume filled with pieces of gear and flashes of red, same as his never-changing shoes. Chains connected to his arms burning in the air, leaving fragments of metal in the air, floating around, filling the air with the smell of metal. Donning no mask on his face, no wounds. Midoriya smirked, basking in the power radiating from the Titan of a figure standing behind him, filling himself with the power inside. An expression on his face that signalled that he now held immense power.

Behind him, that very same titan stood tall and proud. Metal covering the titan head to toe, shining off the light in the room. Dawning a red garb that covered most of its own body, It had its hands stretched out into the sky, inside holding the gift humanity holds; Fire. A ball made of metal chained to it's own left leg, holding him down. Yet the titans expression never changed. It's eyes burned with pride, and his smile carefree. It radiated power, blinding Joker for a few short seconds before he registered what Midoriya now was.

_ **A Persona User.** _

Midoriya's smirk never left his face. And when a shadow appeared in front of him, he turned around and looked directly at Joker. He nodded and that was all Joker needed, and he backed down. This was Midoriya's moment, his awakening. He wasn't about to steal the show. Besides, he had it handled. 

Midoriya went into a battle stance and glared at the shadow. It dissolved and emerged a Lion-like beast that stood on it's hind-legs, face black as shadow. Joker immediately Identified it as a Nu, and smiled to himself. This was a perfect matchup for Midoriya. And so, as the monstrous Nu prepared to attack, so did Midoriya. He charged forward, and yelled at the top of his lungs.

**" _Come forth and lend me your power, Prometheus!"_**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this was an info-dump! I had to clarify a couple of things in fic! And yes, I'm using the Persona Q style of persona combat. This wasn't exactly intentional, I just thought of the idea of Sub Persona, then 30 minutes into developing the idea I realised that it was just a crappier version of the PQ combat system.  
> Also, a comment on the original chapter mentioned Futaba's ultimate persona. That wasn't intentional.


	5. Midoriya Izuku: Prometheus's Awakening.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The details behind the awakening of Prometheus, and the awaited battle against Nu.  
> ...It's not even going to be a contest, is it? Good thing this Nu has no fire weakness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, a new chapter? likely only a couple hours or a day after I posted the previous one? You must be dreaming!  
> Nah, I just had a sudden bout of inspiration. Va,He will be updates soon, I'm just planning out the ideas for that Fic specifically. ANYWAYS, ONTO THE SHOW!

Midoriya sat in the Safe Zone, staring at a wall, thinking through the insanity that was the previous couple of hours.

Not only did his adoptive brother outright tell him that he was his Great-great grandfather from the past, which took photographic evidence to prove after Akira eventually just gave up, He was also the leader of the Infamous Phantom Thieves of Hearts. While what he told Akira was the truth, he himself had been a collector of everything related to the Phantom Thieves. It helped soothe the constant nagging voice at the back of his mind, telling him to "Break free" and "Gift the gift of fire". Nothing better for minds than detective work, after all!

..Okay, maybe that was just him.

But then Akira told him about his many heists, his many battles, and Midoriya filled in the blanks. He could tell that Akira wasn't exactly telling him the whole truth about his situation of a time vortex just opening out of nowhere, but he had no evidence to press him for information either, so he rolled with it. Now, however, he was beginning to see the benefits of having Mementos available at all times.

He was an analyst at heart. A very hard to understand analyst unless you got hold of his own notebooks, but even then, he wrote them in Hebrew. Why Hebrew? Because nobody he has ever known has ever been able to read Hebrew. Sure, he spent like two years learning the language until he knew it like the back of his hand, but it was well worth it. Where was he again? Oh right, he was an analyst at heart, and he could tell that the wide variety of enemies Mementos held would prove to be a blessing. All Might is able to destroy basically everything in his path, sure, but even he needs to use some semblance of strategy. Just because he's getting a super powered version of All Mights quirk, he still had to be careful not to make stupid mistakes that could only be made by fighting the same person over and over again. Mementos was the perfect way to do that. 

However, another part of him was thinking deeply about the things Akira had talked about, Shadows, Personae and the Tarot. He linked all of them together, into one neat package for him to understand, and it still blew his mind. People could _summon_ their own wills, take control of them, use them to fight against monsters. It was effectively being a Hero, except with higher stakes, at least according to Akira. It was easy to understand. So why did it call out to him so much? He never experienced this feeling unless he didn't understand the topic whatsoever. He was a sponge for knowledge, he would be satiated. Except for this one instance, because he already knew everything.

_**'Thou are... simply not there yet...** _

_**hold strong, prisoner...** _

_**thou shall reach thy resolve soon.'** _

The voice in the back of his mind boomed, then slowly vanished. They made to sense to him. "Prisoner"? "Resolve"? They were words he understood, but couldn't make sense of in this context. It was simply garbage that didn't mean anything, he decided. He turned his head and looked at the body of Akira, who had just gone into the Velvet room he was told about. 

If he had been more observant, perhaps he would've noticed the shadow creeping up behind him. Perhaps because of that, he would've never awakened to his own Persona. But that didn't happen. Fate didn't allow that to happen. It continued spinning, creating splashes in the universe, changing events just slightly. The humans had choice, of course. Fate was simply the being that acted on the results of a persons actions.

And so, just like that, Midoriya Izuku was knocked out cold by a Mudo. Apparently, Instant death skills don't work on humans. Look at that. The future holder of One For All, down due to a Mudo. Honestly, that's kinda embarrassing, had there not been a perfectly good reason.

So.. when Midoriya woke back up, he was inside a prison cell. Immediately, alarms were blaring in his head. HARD. He wasn't supposed to be in a prison cell, of all places. So he bolted upright into a sitting position and realised the predicament he was in.

He arms were chained to the wall. That wasn't good. That basically left him with absolutely zero ways to escape, and the whole dislocate your thumb thing only works on handcuffs. These were metal bands that wrapped around the wrist, linked to the wall through what appeared to be incredibly strong metal chains. He was screwed, no doubt about it. except.... Why were the walls and floor blue?

'Well.. I should probably uh... G-get some information? Yeah, that'll do! I can stall for time and hope that Akira reaches me in time!'

Looking through the metal bars, he spotted a long-nosed person sitting at a fancy wooden desk and an adorable little girl dressed in a maid outfit. Insert the record screech in which Midoriya ends up getting horribly confused as to how he's even here, and now he's muttering like a freaking madman. Ideas floating around his head, until eventually the man would finally lose his hold on his generally stoic demeanour and just begin laughing incredibly hard. Shutting up, Midoriya looked directly at the laughing man, and he looked directly back at Midoriya. Calming himself down, the man introduced himself.

"Ahem.. Greetings, and welcome to the Velvet room. I am Igor. This is a room between dream and reality, Mind and matter. A couple moments ago, your own blood left the room in search for you." The man, Igor, Introduced himself. "The girl standing beside me is Lavenza, a resident of this very room. We are here to act as helpers to the trickster, and as such, we offer our services of Persona Fusion to him. But of course, you already know of this, don't you?"

Indeed, Midoriya had already learned about the long nosed man named Igor and his assistant, however, didn't Akira say that only those with the Wild Card are able to enter this place..? 

"Let me answer your question, young man. Only those who have signed a contract may enter. Those who have yet to sign one can be brought in once, however." That explained midoriya's question. Those who signed a contract, meaning those without the Wild Card can still enter. "You are here, because the Wild card is passed down through blood. Your own kin will have the Wild Card themselves, and the next, and the next. However, there are very rarely any actual Wild cards in Wild Card families, due to the sheer improbability of getting two in one. You are one such person, you hold part of the Fool, but are cemented as Justice.

"As such, so long as you still retain even a fraction of the fool inside you, you can enter this room. Now then, I may not be able to offer you my full services, however.. I find myself to be quite the fortune teller. As such, allow me to give you a small ray of guidance in your path."

Taking out a pack of Tarot cards from the bottom of his desk, he begins shuffling them around and placing them on the table. Then, one by one, he flipped them over. Igor's face grew wider and wider with a smile as he continued, and once everything was flipped over, he began to clap his hands.

"My, my. You are quite fortunate. It appears that you still have a blessing deep within you that has yet to be awoken. Soon, it will rise, and will help you crush any obstacles in your way. The champion of Nyarlathotep slowly rises, however. As the powers you two will obtain will be in direct opposition to one another. A figure of dark and shadow sitting on a throne of blood, and a disciple who knows only the meaning of chaos.. It draws near." He finishes, putting the cards back away. As Midoriya questions what he had just been told, an alarm rings, and Igor speaks once again.

"Our time is limited. Go and talk to your captor. Till we meet again, Prisoner."

The entire prison glows with blue light as it vanishes before me, and he begins falling. Falling, falling, falling.. Continuing to fall until he finally hits the ground and jolts awake. Looking around, he woke up in an exact same area as the velvet room, except this time, the walls were dark and red. Looking around, he realised that he was at an end point in Tartarus. Seeing the staircase downwards only helped solidify his idea. And then, he found his captor. One giant shadow, covered by metallic armour gleaming in the fire within the room. Midoriya looked at the shadow, and the shadow stared back. They stared at each other for what felt like hours until finally, a booming voice filled the room.

**"Midoriya Izuku, Pupil to the leader of the Phantom Thieves, and soon-to-be student of All Might himself. I've been.. expecting you.**

**"You have been brought down by society for being Quirkless, no? Powerless, Worthless. That's what others have claimed. And that has become what you are now. But I can offer you an out, I can offer you a Quirk. I can offer you power surpassing millions of others, as long as you join my side."**

Midoriya froze when he heard the voice. It was something one would only hear in their nightmares, a voice that sent shivers down his spine. He stayed strong, however, and asked a question. 

"..W-who are you...? Why are you o-offering me power?"

**" Simple, really. You're just useful. Your analytical prowess is something to be feared, If I could simply turn that over to my side.. then all would be fantastic. As for me, I am a champion of Nyarlathotep. That is all you need to know."**

Power, a Quirk, the ability to stand above others. It sounded so enticing to Midoriya, and he was oh, so close to saying yes. However, before he could say anything, the voice in the back of his mind suddenly began yelling.

_**'YOU WOULD ABANDON THE PATH OF HEROICS SIMPLY FOR POWER?! ARE THOU TRULY A PRISONER TO THY OWN WHIMS?! STAND STRONG, SHOW THE CHAMPION OF CHAOS THINE OWN INNER STRENGTH!'** _

That voice.. It was correct, Midoriya couldn't simply accept ones proposal for power, especially when they were the champion for the Crawling Horror. "...I decline."

The voice fell silent for a couple seconds. The seconds dragged onto minutes. Until it finally said something.

**"...You don't understand, boy. You are completely worthless without this power I can grant you. Useless. Weak beyond compare. I offer you true strength, and you spit on my proposal? Very well then. I need not talk to you anymore. You deserve death, before you become an obstacle."**

The shadow opened the cell door and dragged Midoriya out, throwing him against the wall. Mental will was one thing, but it can't compare to physical strength. Midoriya could barely stand up after being thrown that hard, and the shadow moved forward once again.

**"You are powerless. Weak. Something to be crushed beneath my heel. Something not even worth my time. You are a prisoner to your own incompetence. Now suffer the consequences of your uselessness."**

...In that moment, something in Midoriya cracked. He was being thrown around again, this time by someone he could swear was a villain. If he continued on like this, than.. How could he become a hero that saves others? If he was a prisoner to his own powerlessness, then he was going to break those shackles, one way or another. To become a hero others can look up to, a symbol of Justice. He wouldn't sit idly by while others spat on his kindness, he wouldn't let others walk over him because he was Quirkless any longer. 

"..You're wrong. I'm not powerless."

**"..What?"**

"I'm not powerless. I never have been. I've simply been too blind to ever realise it. All this time, sitting idly while others walk over me.. I've had enough. I'm not letting that happen, ever again. I refuse to be a prisoner to my own Quirkless self! Even if it's a fools errand, I will fight back, until my last breath!" Midoriya yelled back, filled with determination, he was going to stand up for himself. He wouldn't be Izuku "Deku" Midoriya any longer. A voice ringed in his head, causing a massive headache. He gripped his own head and looked downwards at the ground.

**"Finally, Thou hast reached thy resolve.**

**The real you beneath the surface desires to be set free from the oppression thou hast dealt with.**

**Now, let us break free from the chains that have claimed us till this very day!**

**I am thou, and Thou art I!**

**It will take a thousand years of torture for thy to abandon our path to justice!**

**I AM PROMETHEUS, THE TITAN WHO BROUGHT THE GIFT OF FIRE TO HUMANITY!**

**WE ARE ONE, AND NOW...**

**WE ARE WHOLE!"**

**"** I hear you.. Yes. Let us break free from these chains that have claimed us till this very day." Looking upwards once again, Midoriya glared at the shadow. Fire spread across his body, starting from the feet. It slowly rose up, revealing a costume made of green and red, with attached to metal chains around the wrists of his hands underneath a cloak of green once the fires dissipated. holding a shortsword, he raised it, and charged forward, killing the shadow in a single hit. In the sudden power charge, Prometheus emerged behind Midoriya. A titan made of metal that dawned a red garb, he found it fitting for such a figure to be his Persona.

The doors opened, and a new shadow emerged in front of him. He looked back and saw Akira. He nodded, telling Akira that he could handle this shadow, and Akira got the signal. He stood back and decided to offer support instead. He went into a battle stance and glared at the shadow, who transformed into a Lion-like beat on its hind legs, with white hair surrounding its face, which as darker than the night. He neard Akira make a small grunt of approval, and dashed forward. He yelled at the top of his lungs.

**" _Come forth and lend me your power, Prometheus!"_**

The titan who brought the gift of fire to humanity conjured fireballs in its hand and released one directly at the Nu while Midoriya Sliced through it. The shadow screeched and Midoriya felt something strong, but with no defined shape hit him and sap a lot of his energy, knocking him down and destroying Prometheus along the way. He got back into his battle stance and prepared for another attack from the beast. It followed through, and charged towards Midoriya. Jumping upwards, he dodged the charge and lodged his short sword straight into the back of the beast, summoning Prometheus once again, he sent another fireball. This time, it hit the sword, heating it up and causing the shadow to screech in pain. 

"Careful, it's charging up a Mudo! You're weak to Curse, so that Mudo is incredibly likely to hit. If it does, you're out cold."

Midoriya nodded. "Thanks for the Advise, Akira-kun!" He began to move with precision, aiming to end the battle before it pulled Mudo off. Finally spotting a weak point in the enemy's guard, he rushed to exploit it. Unfortunately, the Nu was smart enough to realise that it was incredibly close to dying, and counterattacked before they managed to land a hit. At this point, Midoriya's screwed. So he decides to go for broke. 

"Prometheus, Hama."

If, on the off chance that the attack misses, he gets the opportunity to kill the shadow. If he doesn't, and Mudo lands?

...Well, Akira can haul him off. 

The shadow and Persona pull their insta-kill attacks off at the exact same time, and Midoriya gets extremely lucky. The Mudo missed, but so did the Hama. However, that didn't matter. He charged forward once again and this time, Nu didn't have any way to block the incoming attack or counter it due to being in the middle of rewinding after Mudo. And so, Midoriya jumped over Nu and tore his short sword out of the monsters body upwards, then backflipped over an especially big fireball that Prometheus was preparing. Everything put together, and it meant that Nu was cooked. Prometheus returned to the soul of Midoriya as Midoriya himself fell, requiring use of his Short Sword to even stand up properly.

**"..It appears that I was unable to kill the Child. Very well then. We shall meet again soon."**

The voice soon went dead, and Midoriya, patting himself mentally on the back for a job well done, fell unconscious due to the sudden awakening and definite injury created from being thrown against the wall. Akira simply sighed and shook his head. He dealt with the Nu incredibly quickly. That was to be expected, since it was only level 3, but at this point, that's almost impressive. Hauling Midoriya over his shoulders, he exited the Tokyo Subway and headed back home to Inko.

...He was still screwed, wasn't he?

(Yes. Yes he totally was. He ended up getting forced into toilet duty for a month after that.)

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The two gods stayed silent. 

Philemon out of proudness

Nyarlathotep out of anger.

Both vowed to do different things

One promised to make sure both of their champions would survive

The other vowed to destroy the champions of the other god at whatever means necessary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Current party setup:
> 
> Joker (LV 3):  
> Arsene: Weak: Wind, Gun, Ice, Bless. Resist: Curse  
> Attacks: Eiha, Cleave
> 
> Midoriya Izuku (No codename) (LV 2):  
> Prometheus: Weak: Curse. Resist: Bless, fire  
> Moves: Agi, hama


	6. Fool and Justice; A new journey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since the 1st visit to Mementos. Akira and Midoriya have grown in strength, and guess who finally inherited OFA?
> 
> (No social links have progressed during the time skip.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Current Party:  
> Joker (LV 11):  
> Main: Arsene. Sub: Angel:  
> Weaknesses: Ice, Gun. Resist: Curse, Elec. Null: Bless  
> Moves: Eiha, Cleave, Dream needle, Tarunda, Hama, Dia.
> 
> Midoriya Izuku (LV 9):  
> Weaknesses: Curse. Resist: Bless, Fire.  
> Prometheus: Agi, Hama, Sukukaja, Tarukaja.

It had been a while after their first trip into Mementos. Akira and Midoriya were becoming more powerful, and they finally got into a bit of a pattern for taking down shadows. They became less of a challenge the stronger the two became, and soon, Midoriya was able to do what Akira did back when he fought the Slime Villain. He managed to be able to summon his own Persona in reality. This was cause for celebration, as everyone in the Midoriya family celebrated the success of their adventures into Mementos. Inko, of course, cried tears of joy while Midoriya bounced around like a child on 50 pounds of pure sugar. 

And so, on the day of the Entrance exam to Yuuei, Midoriya and Akira made their way into the school. Midoriya himself always wanted to be a hero, and since it was his job to mentor Midoriya's ability to use a Persona, and because it was the reason he was brought into this time period in the first place, Akira tagged along. So Akira was expecting for Midoriya to be extremely excited about everything, maybe a tad bit nervous, but filled with enthusiasm and confidence now that he had now that he could actually summon Prometheus. So he was rightly confused when Midoriya turned up looking like he might throw up at any given moment.

"...Hey, Midoriya. Why do you look like you're about to hurl?" Akira asked in concern. Midoriya simply tilted his head to look at him.

"I just ate hair and may have just obtained the power of All Might times a couple factors. I still taste the hair gel." He simply stated. Akira laughed, then realised he wasn't kidding. Both of them stopped walking. 

Now, Akira knew who All Might is after a lesson on the society of this time period, he knew how big of a deal and how powerful the blond giant was. However, he did know that quirks couldn't be passed on, and if Midoriya was telling the truth, which he most certainly was, then that meant he was now the successor to the most powerful quirk in existence. Arguably strong enough to compete with the power of his own Wild Card.

That being said, he knew that in terms of Persona, he was still superior. However, that additional quirk evened out the playing field for both of them. Akira had experience and the smarts needed for thievery and Persona usage, sure, But Midoriya now held a (Weaker compared to Arsène) Persona, plus that quirk from All Might. That could pose to be a bit of a challenge for him, if they were to ever fight head-to-head. But that probably wouldn't happen any time soon. However, now wasn't the time for that. Now was the time to face the entrance exams. 

Walking in, Akira realised just how big of a competition he was going to be thrust into. Not only was he about to have to deal with thousands of people, but he also hadn't studied in a while. 

..This was going to bite him in the ass, wasn't it?

...Surprisingly, no. Akira went through the written exam rather easily. The only bits he had to slow down and consider were about heroics. English was easy, since he was fluent in the damn thing, Math was no problem, Japanese was one of the easiest, And the pattern continued on just like that. Speeding through the entire test at a breakneck pace, finishing the with confidence. For having to deal with Aldera's crap education system, he still managed to get past everything rather quickly. He had a feeling he would be placed somewhere around the top, and his gut instinct was never wrong. At least, it hadn't failed him yet.

Midoriya was in the same mold, speeding past the questions at an admittedly faster speed that Akira. He was never exactly prideful of his skills as a student, since he was a little too modest for his own good, but even he had to admit that the test was not much of a challenge for him. Perhaps that was just due to the insanity that he had gotten used to in the past few months. Honestly, being told that the whole Persona thing was basically based off an RPG with the whole levelling thing took the cake. At least he could tell how strong he was. Still two levels away from reaching the same power as Akira, though.

And just like that, the written exam ended, and Ectoplasm's many clones came around to pick up the test papers. Present Mic walked onto the stage and began explaining the practical exam. And Akira immediately could tell that it was rigged in favour of those with less favourable ones. Maybe this school was just as incompetent as Shujin, maybe something else. But it was definitely rigged. As Present Mic continued on, he listed three robots, and was just about to mention the last one until somebody jolted upright and began yelling.

"EXCUSE ME, BUT I MUST ASK A QUESTION! YOU HAVE ONLY LISTED THREE ROBOTS, WHILE THE PAMPHLET WE GOT FOR THE PRACTICAL CLEARLY SHOWS FOUR! AND YOU!" He pointed a Midoriya, who suddenly jolted to awareness and stopped his muttering during Present Mic's explanation. "YOU'RE MUTTERING AND CLEARLY DISRUPTING EVERYONE AROUND YOU! IF YOU WON'T PAY ATTENTION, PLEASE LEAVE!"

Midoriya didn't say anything, only hanging his head in shame. Akira, however, had something to say. Nobody talks to Midoriya like that without getting grilled by Akira. Hell hath no fury like an angry mother, sure, but Heaven outright fears for their life when Akira gets pissed off. And guess what he currently was right now? Yep, very pissed off. It's time to lay down the law. The Midoriya Family law. Rule no.1 being you don't fuck with Izuku Midoriya and expect to get away with it. 

"Excuse me, but I think that Present Mic was going to explain the 4th robot. Also, Midoriya's mutterings are simply a way to process his information. Furthermore, I do believe you're causing more of a distraction than he himself is, since nobody except for you has complained even once about it." Akira stated, voice only barely hiding the anger he was feeling. As he finished that sentence, everyone in the room began to nod and agree with what Akira said, causing the loud boy to sit back down, embarrassed. Good, he did his job correctly, then. Present Mic also returned from his mild confusion and explained that the 4th robot was worth 0 points, and it was better to just avoid it outright.

Everyone made their way to their own testing grounds, with Midoriya and Akira being separated. They both supposed it was for the best. They could shine separately just fine, and they wouldn't be stealing each others points, anyhow. Everything would be fine, if it went well, that was. Of course, everything immediately went to shit the moment the exam started, where nobody had been expecting that there wouldn't be a countdown. Akira moved immediately, knowing to not waste a second after his experience. Midoroya as well. but everyone stood as still as a statue. Eventually, everyone stopped being stupid and began rushing to destroy the villain bots around the grounds.

Akira immediately summoned Arsène, who sent wave after wave of Eiha towards the robots. Despite the fact that Eiha is, by all accounts, incredibly weak, Robots don't exactly have magic resistance. So they end up falling in one attack, two if it's a three pointer. He also used Cleave on numerous enemies who were simply to close for comfort for him to safely charge up an Eiha, slicing the robots in half instead, at the cost of his stamina. It took a while for him to figure out, but usage of physical and magic attacks didn't differ in both worlds. Magic took Spiritual Energy and Physical took Stamina. Too much magic drains him of spiritual energy, making him feel like crap. Too many physical attacks.. That just makes him unable to move at all. He just falls face-first into the ground. So he took special care to not overexert himself, using his dagger whenever possible. He can't use his pistol due to it just not working because it's not in the cognitive world, but the dagger still works fine. 

Apparently, not even the best of metals can take a knife to the face. But a pumpkin can. Cognitive world bullshit.

Midoriya was also told about what effect Physical and Magical attacks do, so he also used them sparingly. Starting the exam immediately with a Sukukaja, he jumped from place to place in quick succession, allowing Prometheus to launch numerous Agi skills, burning the robots down, causing he joints to melt and become immovable. It was the better tactic, compared to Arsène's Eiha, Agi did less to a large target. Instead, Agi focused on pure firepower, melting the enemy down, so to speak. As such, he decided that simply melting the joints and slamming his short sword into the head of the robots was the best way to conserve energy, as well as take down robots effectively.

They both still helped out fellow test takers, of course. Akira would take down a robot getting too close to a person using cleave, Midoriya would simply just use Sukukaja on himself repeatedly, allowing him to speed up and get the people out of harms way. They did this because fundamentally, their Personae were different. Arsène specialised in well rounded attacks, all of which being strong for the level they were at. Prometheus specialised in buffs, helping his teammates take down larger threats, lending in firepower whenever possible. That was the difference between the two. One specialised in quick take downs, the other specialised in support and minor offence.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nedzu was having a fantastic day, and not just because today would be the one time he got to press the big red button. No, today was the day he could see the person I talked about so much. Akira Kurusu, the leader of the Phantom Thieves. He was giddy, since Akira presented something he had never seen before. Actual, real life proof of Cognitive Psience as well as time travel. Anyone with a mind as big as Nedzu's and an insatiable curiosity would be giddy.

".... We all know what types of people are sought after in heroics, right? People who are able to take down any enemy with force" Bakugou was shown on the main screen, panting and catching his breath over the remains of a charred robot. "Those who are able to get to the scene quickly and save civilians just as fast.." Two videos of Midoriya quickly pushing a test taker out of harms way and a loud boy with engine legs simply kicking the robots into submission were shown side by side. "And the ones in the middle, using a mix of stealth, strategy and power to take out their enemies." Akira was shown, tearing down the robots one by one.

"..We should keep an eye on them. They seem like promising hero candidates. It would be a shame to let them slip under the radar." Aizawa-san stated. Everybody agreed, they were all incredibly promising hero candidates, nobody could disagree on that front.

"What's even more interesting is how two of the people we just took a look at are in the same Family, and with roughly the same quirk! Midoriya Izuku, who's quirk is Prometheus allows him to, at least according to this, summon the spirit of Prometheus to aid him, and Akira Midoriya's quirk is Arsène's Blessing, which is basically the exact same thing, except replaced with the gentleman thief, Arsène instead." Nedzu said, pretending to be completely unaware of the fact that he knew all about the power of Persona after our weekly tea times.

"..Well then, let's see how they preform under pressure!" Taking out a gavel, he smashed the Big Red Button.

Things were about to go to hell, and I really couldn't contain my excitement.

'Let's see how much you've grown since our fight, Akira-kun!'

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once Nedzu hit the Big Red Button, shit hit the fan.

The ground quaked, building began to fall apart and make way for the colossal robots, larger than anything any of the test takers had ever seen. Everyone reacted in different ways, many of them simply ran away in fear, leaving the unfortunate trapped and unable to get away. Midoriya and Akira were anything but that. 

The moment Akira noticed the 0-pointer, he knew that someone was going to get hurt because of it. He had to neutralise it, ASAP. The question for him was how. He might hold Arsène, who could demolish the weaker robots easily, but this was a different threat. His SP threshold was low enough, and wasting it on the smaller robots left him with only 15sp. the most he could get out of that was maybe 4 Eiha's out at most, certainly not enough to take out the 0-pointer. So he decided to go for the smarter option. Using his grappling hook, he ascended onto the roof of a nearby building and summoned Arsène once again. Using Arsène, he FLIED UP INTO THE AIR and began to send attacks one after another towards the head, tearing the inner circuitry apart bit by bit. Slowly, the robot began to stutter and move erratically. Then Arsène vanished, and Akira fell. He landed on top of the 0-pointers head and proceeded to shove his dagger into the machine relentlessly until it began to stop moving. And so, the 0-pointer in the area with Akira Kurusu was taken out with minimal injuries.

The same couldn't be said about the one with Midoriya.

It was probably overkill, but Midoriya knew that he was screwed. He hap used up all the SP he had, meaning that Prometheus was screwed. He had buffs on, sure, but Sukukaja and Tarukaja were useless when you didn't have anything good you could use. So, in an act of desperation to save a girl with a bob-cut, he decided to use the one thing Akira told him not to use. One For All. He knew that he couldn't control it well, but.. Well, if his usage of it was poor, Tarukaja would make it stronger, right?

...turns out it did. And that was the problem, because the base power of One For All was basically overkill, and Tarukaja added a 50% attack boost, and since One For All basically came whole packaged with the button for absolute overkill... The 0-pointer was basically eviscerated, at the cost of breaking Midoriya arms and legs. The resulting shockwave.... well, you know how All Might is. Multiply his base strength by two then add a 50% buff to it. Then just guess how big of a shockwave it could make. 

So the two Midoriya's got out of the test. One with pride and minimal injuries due to resource management and not being stupid, the other with many, many broken bones. Akira understood Midoriya's reason for doing so, but he still had to facepalm at what he just did. That was arguably the stupidest thing he could've done-

Wait, no, the time Midoriya ate 5 slices of cake then went to Mementos was the stupidest thing they could've done.

....Either way, they left the exam proud and confident. 

So when Akira went to sleep and awakened in the Velvet room, he could tell that something was up.

"Greetings, trickster. We have something to discuss." Igor welcomed him, cutting right to the point. "As a celebratory gift for going to the Yuuei Entrance Exam, I thought we should tell you something. Changing hearts is out of the question, however.. We are currently making changes to Mementos to allow you to do something.. Similar.

"This is, or course, still in development, and should be ready once you go to your first day in Yuuei. That is all." 

Akira was excited, of course. He could finally do what he did best, trick and thieve. 

..But for now, they would play the waiting game. It was time to prepare, and get ready for a journey far tougher and weirder than his original. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a little reference in the chapter. In case you don't get it.. Sadistic animals that take a gavel and slam a big red button which signals certain death. sound familiar?


	7. The power of the Fool.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The 1st day at Yuuei, or at least part of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Current Party:  
> Joker (LV 12):  
> Main: Arsene. Sub: Angel:  
> Weaknesses: Ice, Gun. Resist: Curse, Elec. Null: Bless  
> Moves: Eiha, Cleave, Dream needle, Tarunda, Hama, Dia, Maeiha.
> 
> Midoriya Izuku (LV 10):  
> Weaknesses: Curse. Resist: Bless, Fire.  
> Prometheus: Agi, Hama, Sukukaja, Tarukaja, Maragi, Dia.

Akira Kurusu considered himself a very perceptive person. 

Before he vanished, he knew exactly how many Arcana he had, and that was 23, including the Councillor and Faith. He knew he was missing the final one, the World. That was the Fools journey, after all. The fool would go through a journey, represented by the 21 Arcana, and reach the final one at the end, The World. A collection of everything the previous Arcana represented. In his case, he had 23. But he knew he didn't represent the role of the world. He didn't complete his role yet, he hadn't accomplished his goals yet. From the tales he was told by Igor during his stay in this time period, others would obtain the World (In one case, the Universe) and accomplish miracles, obtained through the determination of the bonds he had forged reaching him, ever while they were apart, plus the added requirement that they were nearing the end of their journey. 

In his dreams, he heard the voices of his previous confidants. They were calling out to him, screaming his name, hoping he would miraculously return.

It pained him to hear those cries from his most cherished friends. He tried to ignore them whenever possible. He knew he would return sooner than later.

Then the entrance exam letters arrived, and the entire Midoriya family stared at the single letter on the table. Midoriya was quiet, staring at the letter as if it personally offended him somehow, Inko had a pack of tissue paper just in case (She was well-aware that she cried heavily), and Akira simply stared at it with boredom. Soon, the silence got to him and he tore the letter apart, letting a metal disk drop onto the table. It simply stayed there for a couple seconds, doing absolutely nothing. Until suddenly, a hologram of All Might popped out and the worlds loudest sound came out.

"BOOYAH, I AM HERE AS A PROJECTION!" The hologram of All-Might would yell out, the noise so loud it caused everyone to jump back in surprise.

"All Might, get on with the announcement. I need to do my thing as well." A tired voice came from off-screen. All Might lowered his head in slight embarrassment before bouncing right back with enthusiasm. 

"RIGHT! YOUNG MIDORIYA- IZUKU MIDORIYA, THAT IS. YOU HAVE DONE ASTONISHINGLY WELL! YOUR WRITTEN EXAM SOLIDIFIED YOU WITH 6TH PLACE, AND YOUR PRACTICAL WAS NO SLOUCH EITHER! THROUGH THE MELTING OF THE JOINTS ON THE ROBOTS, YOU HAVE OBTAINED 50 POINTS! WHICH MEANS THAT YOU HAVE PASSED!" Midoriya went shock-still, then slowly, his expression moved from astonishment to pure happiness, and he began bouncing around like a child in pure glee. "BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! WHAT TYPE OF HERO SCHOOL WOULD WE BE IF WE IGNORED HEROIC ACTIONS SUCH AS YOURS?"

A variety of clips began playing themselves, all with Midoriya taking out Robots about to sneak up on the Test-Takers, or using a Sukukaja on himself and getting them out of the way. "FOR YOUR HEROIC ACTIONS OF SAVING YOUR FELLOW TEST-TAKERS, YOU HAVE OBTAINED A BONUS 55 RESCUE POINTS! BUT WAIT, THERE IS MORE!" Another clip appeared, this time showing Midoriya saving a brown-haired girl by punching the 0-pointer with a Tarukaja powered fist, breaking his bones. "THE SHOW OF BREAKING YOUR BONES ASIDE, YOU SAVED THE BROWN-HAIRED GIRL IN AN IMPRESSIVE DISPLAY OF HEROISM! AS SUCH.. YOU HAVE OBTAINED AN EXTRA 60 POINTS! CONGRATULATIONS, IZUKU MIDORIYA, FOR OBTAINING 165 POINTS IN THE PRACTICAL, ENSURING 2ND PLACE!"

Everyone in the house was still, 165 points was no laughing matter. He and Midoriya decided to take a look at the previous scorers in the practical, and, excluding All Might's impressive score of 205, everyone else effectively stayed around the 80 mark. He had just doubled that average, and was only around 40 points behind All Might's score. That was an achievement and a half, for certain. And so, 2/3 of the Midoriya Family began crying happy tears. But the hologram continued on.

"Alright, get off the screen, I need to do my thing." The tired voice from off-screen returned, and All Might walked off the screen incredibly proud of himself. A tired looking man with a bright yellow sleeping bag hung across his shoulder and eye bags that could kill stood on screen now.

"Akira Midoriya, you did well. In the written exam, you got 89%, only slightly lower compared to your little brother. In the practical, you obtained 70 points from defeating the villain bots. For rescue points, you obtained 40. This would've sent you to the 110 mark, leaving you at 7th rank. however, Nedzu ran some calculations, and according to him, your way of defeating the 0-Pointer was one of the cleanest, and one that left the least damage on the testing grounds in Yuuei History. This efficient takedown of the 0-Pointer resulted in you being given an extra 70 rescue points for the defeat of the 0-Pointer. So congratulations, you're 1st with a score of 180."

Complete and utter silence, that was what filled the room after that statement. Everyone had the exact same thought in their minds. Added together, the entire family obtained 345 points in the Yuuei Entrance exam, breaking All Might's total. Additionally, everyone else in the entire exam didn't have a single total that even neared both of their individual scores. Soon, the two Midoriya's began to cry even harder, while Akira began laughing in pride. Both for himself and for his pupil. Let him be happy, after all, they both managed to do the seemingly impossible. Besides, Akira had some pondering to do. If their Personae at that level could do that much, what else..

...No, now wasn't the time for him to ponder that question. Now was the time for celebration. And so, they celebrated. They celebrated till dawn of next day, where they would return back to Mementos to train, and the cycle continued. They never got any stronger, though. The Shadows on Floor 1 were beginning to be too weak, and they couldn't go to floor 2 due to the fact that something was blocking the entrance. So they stayed in Floor 1 to hone their abilities, becoming stronger every day. 

Soon, the first day at Yuuei arrived, and the two Midoriya brothers were reacting very differently. While Akira was calm and a little excited, just like any normal student, Midoriya was a walking bomb of nervousness just threatening to explode. A couple minutes before they left the house, Inko asked for Akira to stay for a few seconds. So Midoriya went on ahead while Akira stayed behind to talk to her.

"Look, Akira, I know you've been a great brother to Izuku, and I must thank you for that, but I.. I have a bit of a request."

He nodded, signalling for her to continue.

"Would you mind keeping a close eye on Izuku for me..? He wants to be a hero so much, and I want to support his dream, but I'm scared that he might get hurt.. So can you please make sure he's safe and sound?"

"Of course, Inko. I'll make sure Midoriya is fine. Just like I always have." Akira agreed easily, it was what he had been doing for a while, agreeing to continue doing that wouldn't really change much for him.

"That's great, I'll be relying on you, Akira." Inko responded with a small smile on her face. She would place her faith in Akira, just like she always had.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**I am thou, And thou art I...**

**Thou has created a new bond**

**It shall become the Winds of Freedom**

**That will bring about a Great Realisation**

**With the birth of the Empress Arcana**

**I have obtained the winds of blessing that** ****

**Shall lead to freedom and new power**

(EMPRESS, RANK 1)

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inko would then notice the time, and begin shooing Akira out of the house. "Alright, It's time for you to go! Enjoy your day!". Closing the door behind him, Akira followed the same path Midoriya walked. He arrived at Yuuei and entered the building, getting lost a couple times before eventually arriving at Class 1-A. 

'...Why are the doors so big?'

**'Probably to accommodate for people with Enlargement Quirks that can't be turned off. Now, get in! It's not in a Phantom Thief's nature to be stylishly late!'**

With slight pestering from Arsène, he arrived entered the Classroom only to notice Bakugou getting dangerously close to Midoriya. So he decided to set the record straight and make an example. Set down the law. First law: Don't fuck with the Midoriya's.

"Bakugou, do we need to talk to each other AGAIN about what not to do, or do I not have to?"

Bakugou immediately stilled. During his message from his letter, he was told he ranked 3rd, beaten by both Midoriya and Akira. He thought that Midoriya cheated, no doubt about it, but Akira.. He rivalled Bakugou in villain points. That said something about his power. Plus, that slap hurt. A lot, and he wasn't excited to get slapped a second time across the face. So he, if reluctantly, sat down to avoid getting in Akira's bad graces

"Oh, it's you! The green-haired kid!"

Midoriya and the brown-haired girl would begin to talk to each other, and Akira simply watches. He doesn't expect someone to pop in unannounced, however. So when a yellow sleeping bag suddenly appeared and nobody noticed it, he did the only thing he could think of. He screamed.

"OH MY GOD, IT'S BABY MOTHRON."

Everyone turned their heads to Akira, then to the thing he was pointing at, the yellow sleeping bag. It began to move and out came not a baby mothron, but instead the exact same tired looking man from their acceptance disks. He simply looked at everyone and sighed.

"All of you, excluding one, failed to notice me. We'll be fixing that as we go into the school year." Taking out a packet of.. something, he began drinking (?) it before talking again "I'm Shota Aizawa, your new homeroom teacher. Get your P.E uniforms, we're going out onto the field."

Saying nothing but that, the man left the room just as quickly as he entered. Everyone was still for a moment before making their way out of the classroom. Akira and Midoriya both looked at each other and nodded, both thinking the same thing.

'Today, the Journey begins. It's time to become a hero.'


	8. Test of Strength

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Igor tells Akira something important. The test begins.

Akira knew he had changed.

He wasn't like this before arriving to this time period, he spoke a lot more frequently, among other things. He was still himself, yes, but he had changed. He was a lot more blunt on his opinions, and he was much more willing to give someone a piece of his mind, something he only ever did during the palace infiltrations. So, a day before the first day at Yuuei, he made a visit to talk to the long-nosed man.

**Velvet room, ??AM/PM, A day before Yuuei**

Akira stepped into the room, glancing over the blue hue it always possessed and looking straight at Igor. He needed answers, and Igor was the most knowledgable man in the subject that he knew. He neared the cold metal bars and placed his gloved hands on them once again, getting as close to Igor as he could within his cell.

"Igor, I need to ask a question." Akira bluntly stated. Igor merely chuckled, already knowing what the question would be beforehand. 

"You wonder about your sudden shift in personality, no? It is simple. You've been locked into one Persona, even if you add Sub-Personae onto it, it's still Arsène at the base." He responded, not answering the question clearly. 

Akira simply nodded. He understood what it meant, the logic was sound, after all. A persona was a mask that someone wore to face the hardships of life, and since he was locked into Arsène, his original Persona, his true personality, the blunt, confident, a little cocky Akira from the Metaverse would leak into his actions. He was a little concerned at what it could mean, but.. He always rolled with the punches, this wouldn't be any different. Nodding, he turned away and began to walk out of the Velvet room, until Igor suddenly said something.

"Trickster, I feel it necessary to tell you something. You aren't the first Fool that I've met a 2nd time in a different time period, in fact, you're the 2nd."

Akira immediately turned right back and launched himself at the metal bars, looking directly at Igor. He needed to know what that meant.

"The Velvet Room is a place between Dream and Reality, Mind and Matter. It would only make sense that it is also between time, as well. During the time in which no Fool is in need of our assistance, we Velvet Attendants are in a state of Non-Existance. As such, despite it seeming like we've been meeting constantly for the past year or so, the moment you arrived at this time period, we haven't met for nearly 200 years.

"A Fool, around a decade before your arrival in Shibuya, arrived in the Velvet Room. He was most interesting, holding at the time the largest number of available Personae. At the tail-end of his journey, the world began to yearn for death. And that brought upon the Fall, the destruction of all life. The Fool, who had grown attached to his companions and friends, who had grown ever since his first arrival, wouldn't allow that to happen. So he and his team fought fate with a passion, until they eventually succeeded, and stopped the fall.. At the cost of the Fool's life."

Taking a deep breath, Igor's smile seemed slightly strained, before returning to normal. "That Fool turned into the Great Seal, something that would keep the Fall at bay. The attendant at the time, however, yearned to free the Fool from his sacrifice, and went on a journey of her own. She spent a great deal of time, however, she succeeded. She replaced the Fool as the great seal, and it stands till this very day, with the sacrifice changing hands. That change in Sacrifice happened roughly.. one year ago, in your time. So, as a piece of advice, find that Fool, Minato Arisato. He has had plenty of experience, and for what is to come, you will need as much help as possible." Igor continued on, wanting to say one last thing. "He may be considerably weaker, however. Losing his bonds and spending 200 years as a seal has drained him of his previous power, but he still possesses the power granted to him long ago."

Lavenza walked forward, and handed Akira a bookmark. "This Bookmark is my own. Velvet residents have their own bookmarks for the Persona Compendium at all times, and as such, they possess special designs. The Fool will recognise you as one if you show him this. He should stick out like a sour thumb. Blue hair and a Red Armband with the letters S.E.E.S ingrained shouldn't be that hard to miss." Akira nodded, pocketed the Bookmark, and left the Velvet room, armed with new knowledge and someone he had to find. 

....He couldn't help but smile inwardly at that memory when they arrived at the memory when he arrived at the field, however. It must've been a great coincidence, because...

...There he was, Minato Arisato, sitting beside Aizawa. He couldn't help but question if it was fate or pure luck that brought them together like this, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Once everyone arrived at the field, Aizawa stood up and walked forward.

"Alright, normally we would have a Quirk Apprehension test be done. However... Nedzu specifically requested we do something different. So, the test is simple. Fight one of our 3rd years, whoever lasts the least amount of time will be expelled." Aizawa stated plainly. That caused a bunch of students to start yelling about how unfair it was, and in some ways, they were right. The students were matched up against someone with way more experience.

"What? No fair!"

"That's practically rigged!"

"This shouldn't be allowed!"

"I'm fine with it." "We can do this!" Midoriya enthusiastically yelled while Akira bluntly stated what he thought. Everyone ended up looking directly at the two, and they simply shrugged. Aizawa nodded slightly, and then continued.

"The rules are simple. If you leave the circle you will lose and anything is legal so long as it doesn't result in major wounds. Cementoss can fix broken buildings, but Recovery girl can't repair a punctured lung. Now then, the 3rd year you will be matched up against is.. Minato Arisato." The blue-haired boy stood up and walked right beside Aizawa, sending the students a half-hearted wave. Everybody except for Akira started underestimating the kid after that. After all, how could someone that laid back be any threat?

"Now then, Tenya Iida! You're first!"

Tenya expected this to be simple, his overwhelming speed would help him to dodge most attacks that would come at him. So he arrived at the circle extremely confident in himself. That confidence was shattered when the blue-haired Minato Arisato pulled out a gun and shot himself in the head. Instead of the blood and gore he would've expected, blue fragments of what looked like glass emerged on the other side, where a bullet would normally be. The fragments merged together and formed a white-skinned giant, with white adorning every bit of its body and it was attached to what looked like a flat, white obelisk. 

This shocked Iida, who wasn't expecting something like that, so Arisato used that opportunity to get a good attack in. "Messiah, Megidola!"

Messiah raised his hands, and Almighty magic poured into the hands of Messiah, creating balls of energy, throwing them Iida's way. Iida, realising how screwed he was, sped off in an attempt to avoid the attack, only slightly grazing himself, and leaving a crater in the arena. Arisato noticed Iida's speed and decided to make sure it was no longer a problem. "Messiah, Debilitate!" 

Three chains emerged from underneath Iida, and wrapped around him, only to disappear. Iida thought nothing of it until he began running and realised that he was much slower than normal. After that, it was a slaughter. Iida could barely scrape by some of Arisato's attacks, and he couldn't even get one good hit on Arisato to begin with. And so, with a mere 2 minutes under his name, he was knocked out of the circle. 

Akira had learned early on that he didn't exactly need Oracle to scan enemies, due to the fact that he was the Fool, he could see the attacks and Level of an enemy shadow. That proved no different against human enemies when he tested it against Akechi, so he did a basic overview of Messiah, and..

"Messiah, World Arcana, Level 55, Megidola, Debilitate, Invigorate 3, Dekaja, Victory Cry, Assault Dive, Agidyne and Mediarama... We're fucked." Akira bluntly stated. Nobody except Midoriya heard him, and when he did, it sent a shiver down his spine.

The Test of Strength continued, and Akira's prediction was incredibly accurate. Everyone who fought Arisato was fucked in some way. Speed hardly mattered when someone had Debilitate, Megidola was the Epitome of strength you literally can't resist, Assault Dive knocked anyone out who was unable to dodge beforehand, Agidyne just burned people, Mediarama allowed him to heal constantly, Invigorate 3 and Victory cry gave him basically an infinite amount of SP and Dekaja completely fucked over any buffs Midoriya might pull out. In other words, they were screwed, in more ways than one. 

Yet, despite it all, the students were hard-headed, they wouldn't give up hope that maybe one of them could break the 3 minute mark. They were undeterred by the fact that the only people who even got past the 2 minute mark were Bakugou, Iida and the boy with an ice Quirk. The former two only got pass because of high mobility (Girl with Creation quirk took too long to make a Motorcycle) and the Boy with an Ice quirk got past via tanking EVERYTHING. In the end, they all fell, nobody being able to get past the 2 minute mark.

Very quickly, it was Midoriya's turn, and he knew it would be a curb-stomp. Prometheus specialised in Buffs, after all. And the Persona Lessons Akira had him take had drilled in one very key thing. Dekaja would screw over any buffs. So, what could he do. 

"Begin." Aizawa blandly stated, and the fight began. Arisato pulled out a short sword, and Midoriya's Metaverse outfit appeared, short sword and all.

Arisato quickly used Debilitate to nullify anything that Midoriya could do, However, Midoriya had a different plan.

He charged towards Arisato, and instead of going for a punch like everyone else, he knocked the Gun out of his hand, quickly kicking it out of the Arena as soon as possible.

"..Not bad, you're observant." Arisato remarked before punching Midoriya in the Face. Knocking him back and creating a couple meters of distance between the two.

Midoriya quickly summoned Prometheus and sent Agi after Agi at Arisato, creating suppressing fire while he attacked Arisato with his short sword, forcing Minato back constantly.

Arisato consistently countered the strikes with his short sword every single time, forcing Midoriya back constantly as well.

In the end, they fought to a standstill. That was, until Midoriya pulled back his fist and charged a fraction of One For All into it, punching Arisato in the chest with all his might, knocking Arisato to the edge of the Arena, but not over it. All the while breaking his hand.

Arisato stood up, apparently not hurt at all from that attack.

Without saying anything, Minato charged back in. striking Midoriya with the blunt side of his sword, and kicking him with surprising strength, knocking him to the ground.

Midoriya struggled to stand up, and eventually fell, unable to get up.

Arisato simply looked at Midoriya, and made a small smile. "Good fight."

"... 3 Minutes and 41 seconds, new record."

It was blandly announced with no fanfare, but it was surprising, even to Akira. He had thought, for sure, that Midoriya would lose. Except he never went for any buffs, and aimed to completely remove the ability of persona summoning from Arisato. Smart, very, very smart. When Midoriya returned, he simply walked up to him and gave him one big hug.

"Good job, Izuku!"

Midoriya looked like he was about to cry in that moment, but held it back. He was proud of himself, and incredibly thankful that Akira was there along the way to help him.

**JUSTICE, RANK 2**

Akira let go after a while, a smile on his face.

"Akira Midoriya, your turn." 

and just like that, Arisato got into his battle stance again, and Akira's Thief outfit appeared out of blue fire, his trusty dagger along side.

"Whoa, what the hell was that?"

"That looks sooo cool!"

"Damn nerd has the same quirk as this guy?!"

Akira walked into the circle, and got into his own personal battle stance.

"Maybe the best Fool win." Akira said, subtly taking out the Bookmark Lavenza gave him.

A flash of surprise appeared in his eyes before disappearing "...Right, same to you."

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**I am thou, And thou art I...**

**Thou has created a new bond**

**It shall become the Winds of Freedom**

**That will bring about a Great Realisation**

**With the birth of the World Arcana**

**I have obtained the winds of blessing that** ****

**Shall lead to freedom and new power**

(WORLD, RANK 1)

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Akira rushed forward, knowing that he wouldn't allow the gun to be removed again, he went for something else.

Summoning Arsène, he used Tarunda to weaken him. Despite having Dekaja, it never occurred to him to have Dekunda.

Arisato charged forward with his short sword, striking Akira quickly. It was, however, blocked by a dagger.

The two jumped back, creating distance between themselves, and Arisato rushed in once again.

Akira ducked, expecting him to swing his sword. Instead, Arisato kicked where his left side used to be, and where his face currently was. Knocking him onto the ground.

"Augh, damn.. I'm rusty." Akira quickly got up, and summoned Arsène once again, sending a surprise attack Eiha at his opponent, who thought that Akira would be down

The Eiha, however, was actually surprisingly effective, knocking Arisato down. Despite it being incredibly weak.. Messiah had a weakness to curse attacks. Akira couldn't help but smirk.

Jumping back on his feet, Arisato used Debilitate once again, weakening Akira, who was at this point just spamming Eiha continuously, making it incredibly hard to dodge without running into one more. So he decided to go for broke. "Assault Dive!"

Akira immediately paled. He knew he wouldn't win, of course, but Assault Dive completely screwed over any elemental Attacks. While Assault dive was active, the Persona would simply just charge the opponent down till they were hit, not being effected by weaknesses. 

So, instead of getting hit and obviously losing, all the while being seriously hurt, he decided to forfeit and walk out of the circle.

...That ended up surprising Arisato so much that Messiah straight up vanished.

"... 1 minute 45 seconds. That's the final spar, here are your top scorers"

**1st: Izuku Midoriya**

**2nd: Shoto Todoroki**

**3rd: Katsuki Bakugou**

**4th: Tenya Iida**

"Minoru Mineta, I promised that I'd expel the person with the lowest time. So, you are expelled. Take your things and go home. Everyone else, your syllabus is in the Classroom. Oh, and the two Midoriyas, stay for a bit. We need to talk." Following their teachers instructions, everyone went back to the classroom, while Akira and Midoriya stayed behind. Arisato walked off as well, waving everyone goodbye.

Akira and Midoriya stared at Aizawa, and Aizawa did the same. Utter silence, until one started talking. "I was filled in on your situations. One was quirkless before obtaining All Mights power, one that you can't control properly, the other was the leader of a group known as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Let me make this very clear, don't do anything stupid. If you can do that, we'll be good."

"...Understood, Aizawa-sensei" both Akira and Midoriya replied. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**I am thou, And thou art I...**

**Thou has created a new bond**

**It shall become the Winds of Freedom**

**That will bring about a Great Realisation**

**With the birth of the Hierophant Arcana**

**I have obtained the winds of blessing that** ****

**Shall lead to freedom and new power**

(HIEROPHANT, RANK 1)

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Great. Now that we're done, go home." he concluded before heading off to his office. 

Akira and Midoriya decided to to home after a day long test like this one, and so, they walked to the station together, meeting up with two other classmates, Uraraka Ochako, the brown-haired girl, and Tenya Iida. Midoriya had a good time talking to them, while Akira simply did what he does best, act as an observer to everything going on. He, however, noticed a glowing blue door and headed into the Velvet Room.

"Trickster, we have news to tell you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go! Now then..  
> new Arcana: Hierophant (Aizawa), World (Arisato)
> 
> Justice: Rank 2  
> Empress: Rank 1  
> Tower: Rank 1


	9. Intermission: Godly influence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The details behind the gamble struck, and the actions the two gods took.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...20 day hiatus, huh... Well, good think that i'm back!

Philemon had already won many, many times. Every time the Crawling Horror came back for another gamble, he always won. It had always been the same, Philemon always believed in humanity and it's power to bring itself back from ruin, while Nyarlathotep tries to bring the universe into Chaos. It's always been like this, for the past 250 something years, starting all the way from the first Persona-users. Philemon was always the good guy, that was the status quo.

So then _why did it have to change NOW?_

The realm of gods had never been stable. Between demonic beings, Angelic ones and those who simply took neither side, it was almost always in a state of perpetual war. It was a never-ending war between former Godslayer Nanashi and King of hell Lucifer. He owed a great deal to Nanashi, since it was his taking of the Cosmic Egg that allowed humans to become on par with gods, granting them the power of Persona and Quirks. Nyarlathotep was the opposite, owing much to Lucifer, who gave him form in the first place. The never-ending war continues, while Philemon and Nyarlathotep fight using their own champions.

So what was the problem here? Simple, really.

Human understanding had completely kicked Gods out of their world. And now that nobody had any control over it, Angels and Demons are actively trying to invade this new world created by Nanashi, which had a surplus of magical power, to gain said infinite power. 

Despite few believing in Gods anymore, angels weren't restricted by the power of understanding, and as such, could come and go as they pleased. However, recently, most gods have now been COMPLETELY cut off from the world, meaning there was no longer anything or anyone stopping angels or demons from raiding the world for power. Nobody except for Nyarlathotep and Philemon. 

And that is how two polar opposites find themselves sitting, facing each other. Because despite their differing opinions about humanity, they both needed it to actually STILL EXIST to survive. If any singular force takes over Nanashi's realm... Then they would be able to take over every other world, meaning that there was a very, VERY high likelihood that they would die. They might have great debts to their respective leaders, but their minions don't abide by the same code.

One believed that humanity could rely on themselves to repel the threat of Angels and Demons, the other believed that Gods of the Subconscious needed to be able to intervene directly. Both disagreed heavily, and so they came up with one more gamble. 

A champion for each God. One who have no control of their fate, and another who have the ability of choice. These two would clash with each other, growing stronger and stronger off of each other. In the end, whoever wins will become strong enough to fight off the Angels and Demons, while winning the bet the two Gods made. It was supposed to be a win-win scenario. So of course the crawling horror had to completely fuck it up.

Taking a page straight out of the false god, he intervened directly, rigging the bet in his favour by taking the fate of a child, causing him to accidentally murder his entire family due to an out of control Quirk, while supercharging both original Champion and the kid so heavily that it was plain unfair, not only that, he also gave them a way to communicate with him by giving them a device which allowed them to talk to an AI version of himself, bypassing the restriction on communication altogether. If things continued as is, there was no doubt that Nyarlathotep would've won. So he decided to fight back.

Going far into the past, he found just the man. Akira Kurusu. Powerful, the type of person who fought fate with a passion, fighting for what he felt was right. Philemon felt it was perfect, and sent him far into the future, when the bet would take place. He trusted that the Velvet room would act as enough of a means to fight Nyarlathoteps supercharged Champions, Igor hadn't failed him before, after all. 

So now, all he can do... is protect Nanashi's realm, from both Angels and Demons. Protect the realm until the two groups become strong enough to fight back on their own. Yet, they knew they were outclassed in all ways. So they turned to me. 

I told them that, in return for helping them hold off the Demons and Angels, I wanted my own champion to be a part of their game as well, acting as the middleman. They agreed, and I pulled in one more person. Takuto Maruki. He would act as my Champion, the judge of the game, just like me. 

Satan, the Arbiter Reborn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, I know. The intermissions aren't supposed to be long, they're supposed to be there as.. more of a lore bit.  
> So yes, i'm throwing in SMT IV lore. Let me explain the timeline real quick.
> 
> Basically, in this Fic, Nanashi went for the Anarchy ending, where he obtained the Cosmic Egg and became the new creator god. His new world paved way for the people to become as strong as even gods, allowing them powers like Quirks or Personae. However, to ensure that nothing would go wrong in this world, Philemon was created to protect the human will. Lucifer, purely to spite Nanashi, Creating Nyarlathotep, who would constantly attempt to bring humanity to chaos. Because Nanashi himself recognised that this would inevitably spark some other war, he recreated Satan in order to act as the Arbiter. Everything else you need to know is in the chapter, so go ahead and give it a reread if you feel you missed something!
> 
> Yes, there will be longer Chapters. Intermission ones are just going to be mainly below 1k words. I'll get the next mainstory chapter done soon.
> 
> Edit: whoops, looks like I missed something. "Lucifer" is still alive, yes. But it's not the original, which was created/given form through the fusion of Walter and Hikaru, which had the base beliefs of christianity, that being that lucifer is a fallen angel, at its core. In this specific world, Lucifer still exists, for certain. However, how he came into being, and thus, who he is... That is completely different. I'll lay down some clues for you throughout the next couple of chapters, but heres a hint; YHVH's destruction had a lot more impact than you would think. Also, Reborn Satan is tied into this somehow.


	10. Tower of Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The main dungeon of this world is revealed, along with some important lore tidbits.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YES, REGULAR UPDATES ARE BACK, BABY!

"Trickster, we have news to tell you."

Upon entering the Velvet room, that was the first thing Akira heard. Opening his eyes, he noticed something very apparent, something that he couldn't ignore no matter how hard he tried, simply because it was so radically different.

There was no longer a cell. He was no longer in a cell. In fact, the entirety of the Velvet room seemed to be fluctuating. Unstable. However, that didn't unnerve either residents of the Velvet Room.

"We would like to inform you that we've discovered something very.. interesting. In Mementos, lies a tower that reaches the peak of the sky, created by unknown means, at least to us." Igor calmly explained.

"...Alright then, before you explain THAT, mind explaining why the Velvet Room looks like something that I would see after taking Psychedelic drugs?"

"....I wouldn't use that to describe it, but very well. You're undergoing a change, and as such, the look of a prison no longer suits you. It is unclear to the Velvet Room how your fate, and view of life, will change. As such, the Velvet Room is fluctuating. After all, you don't view yourself as a prisoner anymore, do you?"

Akira paused. Thinking back on everything, that much was true. He no longer had a criminal record, effectively starting with a true blank slate. He was no longer trapped.

"Now then, since your... predicament is special, I've gotten permission from $*$@%)& to tell you some more... detailed, bits about this world."

Taking out his pack of tarot cards, they float around Igor, waiting for what happens next.

"You are familiar with Personae, no? They are the representation of the masks someone dawns to face the hardships of life. They're, in simplistic terms, beings created from your subconscious. They represent you in the purest form, your ideals, hardships, beliefs, everything is represented by your Persona. The special power the people call 'Quirks' are.. I suppose you could say condensed versions of Personae. They represent the wielder in every way, changing and evolving as their own host changes. There in lies the reason why you can't access Palaces anymore, because nobody has a palace. Everyone in the world has a Quirk, and since Quirks are simply Personae that have fused with humans, it is physically impossible for any of them to develop a Palace. Which is exactly why this Tower is an anomaly.

"This Tower contains numerous shadows, all extremely strong. If you want a rough estimate, I'd say around Level 89, far above your current strength. However, it's the Shadows inside the tower that makes it such a big anomaly. They aren't able to be recruited as Personae, either through negotiation or the cards. They're a jumbled mess of Shadows, each and every single one is put together like patchwork. Something that, not only should it be impossible, but also very, very troublesome."

Through the entire explanation, Akira stayed silent. Thinking over everything that he had been told, he had to curse himself for not figuring it out sooner. He had searched up Bakugou's name on the Metanav before, but it came up as an error. It had already hinted to this answer, he just wasn't paying attention.

He needs to get back on his game.

"...Quick question, what types of 'Fusion' are there?" Akira asked, desiring answers.

"... There were originally two types of fusion. Persona Fusion, the one you are the most familiar with. However, Personae are merely beings created from the subconscious, and as such, they're mere fragments of the original. Those original monsters, not the fragments created by the subconscious, are known by an umbrella term," Igor seemed hesitant to even continue speaking about this topic, but continued anyways. " 'Demons'. They used to roam the world, hunting humans as their prey. However, people were able to take control of demons as well, using them to fight back. They became known as 'Demon-summoners', and had access to their own version of fusion, one that has long since been abandoned due to never being used. 'Demon Fusion'."

"...You said 'there were originally two', why did you say it that way?"

"...I say this, because due to the existence of this tower, I can only assume that there has been a third type of fusion created. One that I am calling 'Quirk Fusion'. Taking Quirks, and fusing them together to make even stronger ones... However, the possibility of this actually happening are slim, so take it with a grain of salt. But enough talk, we've kept you long enough. Until we meet again..."

Without any warning, Akira was thrust out of the velvet room, just like that. And back into the streets. Noticing that everyone was gone, he raced back home. He knew what he needed to do.

He needed to tell Midoriya about this, immediately.

\------PER-----S-----ONA------

The next day approached quick, with everyone excited to continue their stay at Yuuei... Everyone, except for the two Midoriya brothers, as they were known as. The reason? Midoriya himself confirmed that since the Quirk he was given is passed down, it is possible to transfer Quirks. Not only that, but Midoriya also theorised that someone was taking Quirks from people left and right to make themselves into a god. Nobody can be cheerful when you have to stomach THAT.

On the plus side, they figured out why Midoriya could still get a Persona even though he had One For all. The answer; it wasn't technically his own quirk. Therefore, it isn't technically his own "Persona". Although, he did say that it felt like Prometheus and One For All were being harder to separate. 

...Eh, probably nothing.

So, after a couple incredibly boring classes (Heroes were pretty good teachers, surprisingly. Although, the Dominatrix wasn't exactly someone he liked.), the class reached the class they looked forward to the most. Foundational Hero Studies, taught by All Might. However, it seems that either Super speed isn't part of the mans skill set (It is) or he is just absolutely horrible at keeping track of time, so everyone just began socialising with each other.

He didn't really expect anyone to try to talk with him, especially when he's one of the colder kids in the class, beaten only by the Lolipop haired boy. But, of course, the world had to prove him wrong, as the same girl who talked to Midoriya on the way to the station, Uraraka, approached him.

"Hey! Deku's brother! Nice to meet you!"

...And immediately, he gets all sorts of flags. The biggest one being that she is probably the most laid back girl he has ever met, even counting Haru, who is just a floof pile. Deciding on a simple gesture, he waved back, thinking that the interaction would end so that he could think more about the tower. Instead, he signed his death warrant to socialisation.

"I just realised that I never actually got to know you! Sure, you had that super cool Quirk- Arsène, I think you called it?- but I don't know anything else about you! So I just thought we could get to know each other!"

"....I'm Akira Midoriya, I prefer to be called Akira Kurusu, though. Nothing against the Midoriya name, I simply prefer my actual last name, Kurusu. It's nice to meet you, Uraraka."

Suddenly, the door bursts open, and the man himself, All Might, enters the classroom in the most dramatic way possible.

"I'M ENTERING THE CLASSROOM LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!" He shouts, while posing in a very dramatic manner. He'd fit right in Jojo, honestly. 

Amidst the cheers from their fellow classmates, Uraraka and Akira look at each other one more time, and shrugs.

"I guess I'll see you after school with Deku-kun, Kurusu-kun!"

"...Right. Let's pay attention to the class for now, though."

\------PER-----S-----ONA------

**I am thou, And thou art I...**

**Thou has created a new bond**

**It shall become the Winds of Freedom**

**That will bring about a Great Realisation**

**With the birth of the Lovers Arcana**

**I have obtained the winds of blessing that** ****

**Shall lead to freedom and new power**

(LOVERS, RANK 1)

\------PER-----S-----ONA------

"I AM ALL MIGHT, AND I WILL BE YOUR FOUNDATIONAL HERO STUDIES TEACHER! TODAY, WE'RE CUTTING STRAIGHT INTO THE MEAT OF TODAY'S CLASS!" He reaches into.. Hammerspace? and pulls out a giant card, with the word "BATTLE" in big red letters. "BATTLE TRAINING! SO, TAKE YOUR COSTUMES AND MEET ME AT GROUND BETA!" With the style and grace of a blue whale, All Might leaves. 

'3/10 in performance, lacks a lot of flare. Oh right- the class.'

Akira just looks at Midoriya, Midoriya looks back with confusion, until he realises what Akira is about to do.

"Kurusu-kun, please don't do what I think you're about to do."

Everyone pauses and looks at the two brothers in confusion. Akira is simply giddy. Dashing straight to the window, he jumps out of it, breaks the glass and freefalls. All the while blue flames fly across his body, showing the Thief costume. All the while yelling one thing at the top of his lungs.

"YOU'LL NEVER SEE IT COMIIINGGGG!!!!"

Who ever said Phantom Thieves couldn't be jokers?

Omake: Aizawa's reaction

Today was supposed to be simple. He only had to do 5 things.

1: Down a physically impossible amount of coffee

2: Deal with his chaotic ~~children~~ students

3: Deal with a Nedzu who has his hands on someone who can manipulate cognition

4: Try not to cry himself to unconsciousness while watching cat videos

5: not internally scream knowing that one of the strongest in the class is from 220 years ago and is the leader of an obscure group of vigilantes.

...Overall, it was going quite well-

"YOU'LL NEVER SEE IT COMIIINGGGG!!!!

....

The Coffee machine broke that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Justice: rank 2  
> Empress: Rank 1  
> Tower: Rank 1  
> Lovers: Rank 1  
> World: Rank 1  
> Hierophant: Rank 1  
> \----  
> Maxed Confidants:  
> Councillor (Maruki)


	11. Battle Trials (And a hint of Ibara.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle trials begin, and a certain rare christian senses demonic prowess (It's just Persona.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .....So, remember the consistent updates thing? I lied, I'm updating randomly. Mostly so the chapters I plan out are decent and so I can analyse the Anime to be as faithful to the original as possible.
> 
> (Also, the lack of followers on gods in this world is... kinda important.)

It had been a couple minutes since Akira jumped out the window, and as such, he was already at Ground Beta, all decked out and ready to go. He never ordered a costume, why bother when you have one that materialises out of thin air, but he did get an upgrade to his dagger. Unfortunately, despite his attachment to his old dagger, he replaced it with something wildly better. All Might eventually arrived and noticed Akira simply being.. There. So a couple minutes later, they stayed in an awkward silence until everyone else had worn their costumes. And oh, they made an entrance.

Everyone's costumes were wildly different. one had a psychedelic leotard, a punk rock vibe, an astronaut suit, Iron armour, and of course, Midoriya's costume, which.. was surprisingly not his Metaverse one. It was handmade, and had that motherly vibe to it. It also had features of All Might on it, which was very funny. He looked across all the costumes as people came in, and decided that everything was pretty good. Honestly, what did he expect? It's not like someone would make a Bikini or literally nothing for a costu-

And with that line of though, Yaoyorozu came into Ground Beta, wearing what was effectively a Bikini. Followed by Hagakure, who wore nothing but shoes and gloves. Akira blue screened for a couple seconds, and immediately turned away. He wasn't about to look at them. Nope, not at all. And while everyone was admiring each others costumes, All Might walked in front of the group.

"NOW THEN! IT'S TIME FOR-" And Akira wasn't about to break his eardrums. "Cut it out, All Might. Stop yelling. We don't need broken eardrums today." The class collectively turned around to Akira for a couple seconds before looking back at All Might, who looked slightly nervous... Strange.

"...Right. As I was saying, It's time for Combat Training!" Immediately, the boy wearing Armour raised his hands. Not waiting to be called on, he interrupted All Might and started talking.

"Sir, This is the battle center for the Entrance exam, will we be conducting Urban battles again?" The boy, now easily identified as Iida, asks. All Might simply smirks, and strikes a pose, raising two fingers. "No, this time, we're going ahead by two steps! Certainly, most of the times, Villain attack take place outside. However, if you take a look at the statistics, the number of atrocious villains actually appear indoors at a higher rate. Hostage situations, blackmail, back-alley deals, all of these are crimes mainly committed indoors, as in this society of heroes, truly intelligent villains, the most dangerous, hide in the shadows! As such, in this class, we will be splitting the class and fighting 2-on-2 Indoor battles"

Akira catches many different red flags. No combat teacher right in the head would throw them into a fight scenario without basic training at the bare minimum, and it seems another student shares his thoughts as well, as the frog girl immediately asks "Without any basic training?". All Might simply strikes another pose, and declares "This is a real battle to understand those exact basics! The best teacher in life is experience, after all. This time, however, there won't be any robots for you to destroy willy nilly!"

Immediately, the crowd of students start asking questions over one another, ranging from the reasonable to "Isn't this cape amazing". And Akira has the slight feeling that some of these people are going to be a headache. All Might, however, begins to start panicking and pulls out a piece of paper from.. Hammerspace, again, and begins to read off of it. 

'Real good teaching, All Might... Did you even get a teaching license?'

"Listen up! The scenario is like this. The Villains have hidden a Nuclear Weapon somewhere in their base, and it's the Heroes job to either find the bomb, or defeat all the Villains before the timer runs out! And the way we will decide who is on what team.." He begins to dramatically pull out a box (SERIOUSLY, WHERE IS HE GETTING THEM FROM?!) "We will decide by lots!"

Akira has no problems with this method, it IS the most realistic, anyways. In their heists, sometimes a couple members of the team would be feeling ill and sick, so they'd switch out the main team every once in a while. Sometimes they didn't even get a choice in who to join the heist because of Flu season, so something as random like this.. Made sense, even if it was a little unfair.

"The teams are being decided so haphazardly?"

"It's probably to reflect the fact that sometimes heroes need to create makeshift teams with other heroes from different agencies, so maybe that's why?" Midoriya answered, and as such, Akira decided to take a shot at it as well.

"Sometimes you don't even get to choose who's going to help you. If it's something like Flu season, the team you're going to be paired up with while on the job could be completely random, or you could be by yourself. This is probably the best way to simulate a scenario like that."

"I see.. I apologise for my rudeness!" "It's fine, Let's just move on with the Battles!"

Just like that, the teams were decided. They were Midoriya and Uraraka, Todoroki and Shoji, Bakugou and Iida, Ashido and Aoyama, Koda and Satou, Kaminari and Jirou, Tokoyami and Tsuyu, Hagakure and Ojiro, Hanta and Kirishima and finally, Akira and Yaoyorozu. 

....Akira immediately blue-screened. He didn't want to be paired up with Yaoyorozu. She was very creative and powerful, sure, but her costume... Dear god, her costume... Swallowing his fear, he walked over to Yaoyorozu and greeted her as a teammate.

"So, we're teammates now. Might as well tell each other our quirks, just for planning purposes." Akira started off the conversation, and Yaoyorozu followed suit.

"Certainly. My Quirk is creation, and it allows for me to create anything using the lipids from my body, which is why my costume was designed this way."

'Ah, so there was an actual reason for this Bikini... That makes me feel a lot better.'

"My... 'Quirk', is called Arsène's blessing. It's basically like Midoriya's Quirk, but I'm more combat oriented, and I summon Arsène instead of Prometheus." He responded easily, stumbling over the Quirk portion a tiny bit due to feeling very.. Shall we say it, reluctant to refer to it as such. However, they both took it in strides and hit it off rather easily, beginning to create a couple scenarios to plan a victory, and sharing some of their own skill sets, meaning Akira learned about her ability to use a wide variety of weapons, and Yaoyorozu learned about his Thief skills.

Meanwhile, Midoriya and Uraraka were hitting it off almost just as much, if only impeded by the fact that Midoriya was freaking out over the skintight costume Uraraka had. Both of them shared their quirks as well, leaving them with some room to create a couple ideas for plans. After everyone grouped up together and found their own teammate, All Might stopped the conversation ball and reached into two different boxes, having Villains and Heroes on the side of each one (Seriously, where is he getting this stuff, Hammerspace?!)

"The first teams to fight today will be... These guys!" Taking his hands out, he presents two pingpong balls, revealing Midoriya's team as the heroes, and Bakugou's team as the villains. Internally, Akira laughed a bit. This had to be the fates making fun of Bakugou. "Everyone else, head into the monitor room." Finishing that sentence, the entire class, excluding the two teams, began to move over to the Monitor room. Akira, however, noticed Bakugou glaring at Midoriya, and decided that he needed to give him a little boost. Walking up behind him, he clasped his hands around Midoriya's shoulder.

"Hey, Midoriya. remember. You and I trained hard for this, you have more combat experience than your enemies. Use that head of yours, think of something smart. Don't overpower your enemies, instead, play to your advantages and outsmart them. You got this... Brother."

Playing along with the story crafted by Inko, he heads over to the Monitor room, clapping himself on the back for a job well done. Whatever nervousness that plagued Midoriya, he hoped that what he said would alleviate it. He believed that Midoriya would win for certain, he just needed to know how. And that how? Simple, really. Midoriya steeled his nerves and looked ahead, checking out the Villain base that he would soon need to infiltrate. He was going to take Akira's advice and outsmart the enemy.

As soon as the Villains entered the building, Midoriya ran through everything in his mind. He knew that Bakugou doesn't do things just because, so those Gauntlets on his hands must have some purpose, and Iida had extreme speed that could basically catch anyone so long as he could reach them. Or just move around the bomb in a couple of seconds. 

"The only way we're going to win this is by incapacitating Iida." He concluded, and Uraraka turned her head over.

"Wait, what? I thought Bakugou was the biggest threat? Shouldn't we try to incapacitate him first?" She asked, and Midoriya simply shaked his head.

"No, Imagine this. If we enter and target down Bakugou first, we're effectively wasting our time. We don't exactly have the power to outclass his Quirk, even if I have more experience in combat. Even if we somehow beat him, we'd only have a couple minutes on the clock, not nearly enough to get the bomb. So we need to do one of two things. Either incapacitate Iida, or distract him long enough that one of us can sneak up and touch the Bomb." 

Uraraka had to admit, the logic was sound. The only problem was how, because there wasn't exactly any apparent way to accomplish these goals except for directly fighting Iida, which would be a waste of energy, because he could run before they even landed a single attack. "Then.. How are we going to beat them?"

"...I have an idea. Bakugou will almost certainly come out to face me head on, meaning Iida will stay behind and guard the Bomb. I have a couple of buffs, so this is what you do.."

\------PER-----S-----ONA------

Inside the Monitor room, the students are chatting it up, some are sitting alone, but most of them are talking with each other. Akira and Yaoyorozu are no different, but they aren't chatting about any random thing. No, they're making bets on who will win.

"I believe that Iida and Bakugou will win. They obviously have the edge in terms of quirks, and both of them have experience using it, it would seem. It would be foolish to not believe that they would win."

"Now, now, Yaoyorozu. Quirks aren't exactly everything. You can bring a dagger to fight a lion and come out on top, it just takes skill and experience in battle, as well as a calm mind. While Bakugou and Iida may be strong individually, their ability to work together is almost certainly screwed over compared to Midoriya or Uraraka. Besides, I know for a fact that Midoriya can come up with some pretty crazy plans, most of them work quite well." Turning around, he points at the monitors displaying the two teams. "See, Midoriya and Uraraka are devising a plan. We don't exactly have audio, but I can tell that they work well. Bakugou and Iida on the other hand..."

On the monitor, it shows the two of them seemingly arguing, and then splitting apart with no other words, Bakugou leaving behind Iida to defend the bomb, while Iida himself tried to get Bakugou to return and create some semblace of a plan, but to no avail. Eventually, he just resigns himself to his fate and stands guard.

".....I concede your point, but I still believe that Bakugou's team will win."

"....In that case, let's watch the show.

...Take your time, Midoriya."

\------PER-----S-----ONA------

It wasn't easy being one of the few christians remaining in the world, but Shiozaki continued. Sure, people make fun of her for "Believing in a lie", but it doesn't matter. The lord most certainly exists, it's simply that everyone else is sinful. 

...And yet, recently, she sensed a Demonic energy radiating from someone, as well as a Holy energy as well. It confused her, and so, she began to do some investigation. Following the trail of Demonic energy and Holy energy, she found her way to the Midoriya brothers. Hiding in the crowd behind them, she wondered. Why was someone holy, presumably the green-haired Midoriya, related with the black-haired Midoriya who radiated Demonic energy?

She returned home and flipped open the bible, intent on finding out why this was the case. Until she remembered Adam and Eve. A snake tempted them to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, how a serpent tempted them into going against Gods orders, and she made the connection. The Black-haired Midoriya was tempting the Holy one into committing Sin. She wouldn't let that happen, and so, she prepared for her mission at Yuuei. It wasn't to become a heroine, she understands that now. God sent her to Yuuei to do one thing, protect the Holy Midoriya from the temptation given to him from the Demonic Midoriya. 

She would accomplish this mission, no matter what. For her lord, for God.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm... not exactly certain if how I portrayed Ibara is exactly true to her character. Considering that Christianity and belief in gods doesn't really exist anymore in this world, I kinda had to... change some things. I'd love advice, though. And... I'll try to post more frequently. No promises, though.


	12. To fight Pride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fight between Team Midoriya and Team Bakugou.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Current Party:  
> Joker (LV 12):  
> Main: Arsene. Sub: Angel:  
> Weaknesses: Ice, Gun. Resist: Curse, Elec. Null: Bless  
> Moves: Eiha, Cleave, Dream needle, Tarunda, Hama, Dia, Maeiha.
> 
> Midoriya Izuku (LV 10):  
> Weaknesses: Curse. Resist: Bless, Fire.  
> Prometheus: Agi, Hama, Sukukaja, Tarukaja, Maragi, Dia.

As soon as All Might began the match, Midoriya charged into the building while Uraraka floated herself onto the top, splitting the two. As Midoriya ran through the halls, he kept his mind focused on the current objective, that being make as much noise as possible, and buy Uraraka enough time. Sending a couple of Agi spells at the front entrance and slamming open all the doors, he searches for Bakugou, and then he finds him, blasting his way directly into his face. Side-stepping the charge, he turns around to the wreckage created by Bakugou, and the two look at each other.

Silently preparing a Sukukaja and pulling out his capture tape, he begins to start running, outpacing Bakugou when running and forcing him to chase after him using explosions, and he begins to start leading him further and further from the entrance, using the grappling hook he had to zoom up to the 4th floor until they reached a dead-end with a window. Bakugou begins to chuckle darkly, and steps forward slowly.

"Deku, I have the location of the Bomb. Iida found me, but we should be directly above you, just like you predicted!" Midoriya heard from his earpiece, and planned his next move. Everything so far has gone according to plan. Bakugou begins to start talking, and Midoriya notices the amount of time remaining. 10 minutes.

"You know, I was certain you would simply give up that pathetic dream of being a hero once you realised how horribly outclassed you are, but... You suddenly got a Quirk, and you suddenly got a brother who protects you. You don't deserve to be a hero. You just got lucky, YOU JUST WANTED TO TAKE MY GLORY! Well, too bad! Since you're such a stalker, I'm sure you know about my Quirk. These gauntlets here store my sweat, so the moment I pull the pin..." Bakugou raises his arm and puts his index finger through the grenade pin, preparing to pull it. "It'll let out one massive explosion."

"Bakugou, stop! If you use that, you'll kill Midoriya!" The speakers inside the building blare with All Might's voice, reflecting the thoughts of everyone within the Monitor room. Bakugou doesn't put his arm down, if anything, he becomes more excited. Midoriya prepares himself to dodge the attack Bakugou was going to send... Only to then realise Bakugou hadn't pulled the pin, instead, he had charged forward and punched him with an explosive hand, knocking him into a wall.

"..I know, I know. I'm not about to waste my chance on being a Hero just so I can punish this lucky pebble." Bakugou responds, as the dust settles and Midoriya slumps to the ground, temporarily unable to stand up. Putting his finger to his Earpiece, he begins to start relaying a message.

"Uraraka, the original plan is a bust. We need to use the backup plan."

"Wait, what? Deku- You told me that this plan is incredibly risky, are you sure about this-"

"Trust me on this, Uraraka. Distract Iida, buy me some time. I'm coming over."

Removing his finger from the Earpiece, he casts a quick Dia and checks over everything in his head. Sukukaja is still up and running. And checking his back pocket... the Grappling hook is still there. Going into a battle stance, he challenges Bakugou to come at him. Bakugou simply stares at him and chuckles darkly, lighting up his palms with explosions.

"Alright then... DIE!!" Yelling that, Bakugou blasts himself at Midoriya, only for him to open up the window behind him and jump out. Bakugou tries to course correct at the last minute, but it was too late. Momentum couldn't stop that quickly and he blasted himself out of the building, not breaking his legs only because he used explosions to keep himself up in the air to reduce the speed he was falling at. Looking back up, he expects to see Midoriya falling. Instead, he sees Midoriya zooming onto the top of the building using a grappling hook and landing on the roof. Realising his mistake he heads back to the entrance in an attempt to catch up to Midoriya, only to then see that the entrance had collapsed. He couldn't blast himself up the building either due to lack of vertical control.

Midoriya had bested Bakugou without even fighting him. Raising his finger to his earpiece, he tells Iida one thing.

"...Legs, I've been removed."

Meanwhile, Midoriya was running straight to Uraraka's location. The plan was a success, meaning he had just removed Bakugou from the playing field, leaving on Iida and a 7 minute timer to deal with. Reviewing the plan in his head, it was generally easy to understand. Knowing the thinking logic of people like Iida and Bakugou meant he could roughly predict where they would be. Considering the fact that Uraraka isn't exactly the most threatening, and her weight limit, it would mean placing the bomb as far from the entrance as possible was the smartest play. Analysing the map of the building, there just so happened to be a room directly below the predicted area, so they formed a plan.

Plan A was to wait for when Bakugou pulled the pin on his grenade bracelets, which would cause enough recoil to stop him from doing anything while he used a fraction of One For All to shatter the roof, allowing Uraraka to take the bomb if she did it correctly. Plan B was if that didn't happen, he would jump out of the window and use the grappling hook to get onto the roof, helping Uraraka defeat Iida/Get the bomb. That was specifically Plan B because he didn't have full control of the grappling hook, and most certainly did not know how to use it effectively or constantly, meaning that would've been a gamble. Fortunately, it worked. So now all he has to do is help Uraraka defeat Iida or get the bomb.

As soon as he entered the room with the bomb, he saw Iida constantly moving the bomb away when Uraraka tried to reach it, screwing her over, since there wasn't any rubble or loose furniture to use. Knowing that if he didn't do anything, they would lose, Midoriya sent off one more Agi and Iida's feet, creating a small explosion just big enough to knock Iida down. Pinning him, he gave Uraraka the opportunity to grab the bomb, and win the game.

"Hero Team wins! Please return to the monitor room so we can discuss about the battle!"

Uraraka rushed up to Midoriya and the two began to talk to each other while leaving the building, Uraraka complimenting Midoriya's planning skills and Midoriya applauding her for buying him enough time. Bakugou returns with a sour look on his face, while Iida simply looks embarrassed. Once they return, All Might starts up classes once again.

"So, who's the MVP?"

"Midoriya" "Definitely Midoriya" "Monsieur Midoriya, of course!" "Damn Deku.."

A wave of people continuously say that Midoriya is the MVP, only for Akira to step in and say otherwise.

"It was Uraraka, plain and simple."

Everyone except Midoriya looked at Akira in that moment, all of them thinking the same thing. Midoriya basically singlehandedly won the entire match, so how was he not the MVP?

"The MVP spot goes to Uraraka for one simple reason; she was the only reason this could've been pulled off. Midoriya's plan was risky, as he jumped out the window. Had he not been able to get the grappling hook out on time or use it properly, he would've plummeted with no way to stop himself. Uraraka, on the other hand, bought time and got the weapon. In a case like this, where they're extremely outmatched, her buying time was more than likely the most valuable thing that could've happened for Midoriya. His plan relied heavily on chance and luck, after all. And in a battle you can't rely on that." Akira calmly explained his reasoning, and All Might sweat-dropped visibly before recovering.

"Good explanation, Young-" "Kurusu, just use Kurusu." "...Young Kurusu, and I accept your reasoning! Uraraka is the MVP!"

Akira, turning around, looks at Yaoyorozu, who simply sighs. "You win the bet... How could you have known?" She questions, not knowing how Akira could've made such an accurate prediction when to her, it was exceedingly clear that Midoriya would've lost, with a Quirk he could barely control. Akira looks back at All Might as he draws the next few teams for battles and simply says..

"...Well, I trained him, obviously."

The next couple of fights continued normally, including much more fighting than the first one. It soon became clear who was probably the strongest in the entire class (Akira, sadly, had to resign himself to around 2nd or 3rd due to not having access to stronger Personae.) and that person was Todoroki, who possessed a Half-cold Half-hot Quirk, but only used the cold part. Akira honestly just saw that as shooting himself in the foot, but whatever. He wasn't here to judge people. After all, he wasn't a Hero. He was a Trickster. 

And then, the last fight came around. It was Akira and Yaoyorozu versus Kaminari and Jirou. Villains vs Heroes. On paper, this might seem like an easy fight, because the Quirks themselves were incredibly weak. Electrification fries Kaminari's brain when overused, and Earphone Jack screws itself over when experiencing loud noises, But that couldn't be further from the truth. This was one of the worst combos they could've experienced, period.

Quickly turning around to Yaoyorozu, he quickly began explaining why this was bad for them. First off, they couldn't make loud noises because that would attract both of them, Jirou completely negated any advantages Akira had as a thief, and Kaminari screws over both of them the moment he gets too close, because if Yaoyorozu even makes something which covers their body, she's screwing herself over. And Akira doesn't really have anything to stop himself from being electrocuted either except for a couple armour pieces which he no longer has. In other words, they were both royally screwed over. They quickly decided on a win condition that needed to be fufilled.

They needed to take Jirou out first, as soon as possible. Kaminari would fall quickly due to Akira's skills, but if Jirou is around to warn him, he's going to be rendered useless. Yaoyorozu falls into roughly the same category, since she wouldn't be able to pull off any sneak attacks and they'd effectively be on even ground. EXCEPT THEN THERE WAS PARALYSIS. Yes, despite him HATING Brainwashing and Charm as status effects, Paralysis had to be a close 3rd. Because it just completely screws over any plans they might have. If Kaminari causes them to have Paralysis, they will lose, period. 

So, as they went in for their ten minute preparation time, They both agreed on one thing. Set as many traps as possible and remove at least one of them from the playing field temporarily, or else they're screwed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter today because good god, the next chapter is going to be big. I'm talking final battle trial + the entirety of USJ big.


End file.
